The history of the Polish state has many centuries. The beginning of statehood was laid in the middle of the 10th century. Prior to that, on the territory of the lands that are now part of Poland and partially neighboring countries, processes of ethnogenesis took place, the formation of tribal unions, Christianity was adopted, the beginning of the first dynasty was laid.

The historical development of Poland is distinguished by periods of ups and downs, drama, heroic deeds of rulers and national heroes. Until the end of the 18th century. The Polish kingdom was independent, then its territory was divided between several states. And only in the 19th century. the process of gradual restoration of independence and the return of ethnic lands began.

The modern history of Poland is created under the influence of various factors and events that have an impact on the political, social, economic and social aspects of the life of the state and its population.

Name

The ethnonym "Poland" arose from the Latin Polonia, which was used to designate the lands of the meadows. This is the historical region of Greater Poland, where these tribes lived. Gradually, the name spread to the whole kingdom. This happened at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century, when Poland already existed as a separate state in Central Europe and pursued an independent foreign policy.

In the 16th c. after the signing of the Union of Lublin, the name "Rzeczpospolita Polska" appeared. This name is enshrined in the country's constitution, and this is how the Poles call their state. Names are also used in official documents: Poland or Polska, Poland, Republic of Poland.

Capital

In 877, the city of Gniezno, founded by the Polan tribe, became the capital of the Polish state. It was the main city of Greater Poland, which in the indicated year was conquered by the tribes living in the region of Moravia. They also then conquered Lesser Poland. The center of the formation of statehood was Greater Poland with the city of Gniezno, which housed the residence of the rulers of the Piast dynasty. The first archbishopric of Poland was built right there.

In the 14th c. there was a change of capital city. Prince Vladislav Loketek was crowned in Krakow as king and ruler of Poland. At the beginning of the 17th century. Warsaw became the new residence of the rulers of Poland, which was turned de facto into the capital back in 1596.

The city of Poznan has never performed the official functions of the capital of the state, but was one of the political and economic centers of the Kingdom, its strategic, important trade, commercial and transport city. As a result of this, Poznan was constantly challenging the palm for the right to become the capital of Poland with Krakow and Warsaw.

Territory settlement

The first settlements of primitive people appeared on the territory of modern Poland during the Paleolithic period. Neanderthal sites have been found in the southern regions of the country, in the upper reaches of the Oder and Vistula rivers. The Neanderthals were replaced by the Cro-Magnons, who settled on the shores of the Baltic.

In the Neolithic, agriculture and cattle breeding, the culture of band and corded ceramics became widespread, on the basis of which the following archaeological cultures later developed:

• Predluzhitskaya.
• Tshinetskaya.
• Baltic.

The main role was played by the tribes - carriers of the Prelusatian culture. During the Copper and Bronze Ages, the structure of primitive society became more complex, new products of labor, tools appeared, agriculture, metallurgy developed, the first fortifications called cities were built.

At the end of the Bronze Age, the first clashes began between the tribes that inhabited the Oder, Vistula, and Baltic. Looting became more frequent, which in the Iron Age led to larger clashes, the manufacture of a large number of weapons from iron and other metals. Weapons are found in numerous graves of nobles and warriors. The nomads began to push the Luzhitsan. At first they were the ancestors of the Germanic tribes, then the inhabitants of the coastal regions. They were replaced by the Celts, who were assimilated. At the turn of the centuries BC and our era, the tribes of the early Slavs appeared in Poland, whose ancestors were the Lusatian and coastal tribes. The Slavs created the Yamnaya culture, which spread to the territories of the Oder and the Vistula. There is little reliable information in the chronicles about the first Slavs. Greek and Roman authors call them Wends. They traded with Rome, hunted, collected amber, made ceramic jewelry and weapons. In the first centuries of our era, the Germans came to the Vistula: Goths, Gepids, Burgundians, Vandals. Slavic tribes before the 3rd c. BC. constantly fought with the Germans, ousting them from Poland.

Creation of the first state

The Proto-Slavic tribes were numerous, but the name of modern Poland and the people came from the glades. Next to them lived other peoples who lived in Pomerania, Silesia, on the Vistula and Oder, where the largest political and commercial centers of the Slavs arose. The first cities were Krakow, Szczecin, Wolin, Gdansk, Gniezno, Plock, which arose as centers of tribal associations. Historians call such centers opols - associations of dozens of settlements, headed by a veche. It was a meeting of men, at which important issues of the internal and external life of the tribe and the entire settlement were decided. Grody were located in the center of the opolye. They were ruled by princes with their own military squads, power limited by the veche. The prince taxed the population, decided which tribes to conquer, turn into slaves.

In the 70s. 9th c. the rulers of Great Moravia captured the principalities of Greater and Lesser Poland. This is how the first proto-state appeared, but it lasted until 906, when it was captured by the Czech Republic.

An independent principality, which successfully freed itself from the rule of the Czechs, appeared in 966. It was created by Mieszko the First, a representative of the ancient Polish Piast dynasty. The composition of his state included the following lands:

• Gdansk and its environs,
• Pomorie, including Western Pomerania,
• Silesia,
• territory along the Vistula.

Meshko was married to the daughter of the Czech ruler Boleslav the First, whose name was Dobrava. In 966, Mieszko was baptized in the city of Regensburg, which belonged to the Czechs. From that moment on, Christianity began to spread throughout the Polish lands. To strengthen his role in 968, Poland created its own bishopric, which was formally subordinate to the popes. Mieszko minted his own coin and pursued an active foreign policy. By breaking off relations with the Czech rulers, the first king of Poland acquired an enemy for the country, with whom the kingdom constantly competed.

Legacy of Mieszko the First

After the death of the first king, Poland began to actively develop. During the 11th c. the following changes have taken place:

• An archbishopric was created in the city of Gniezno.
• Bishoprics were opened in Krakow, Wroclaw, and Kołobrzeg.
• The borders of the state have been expanded.
• Active construction of churches throughout the country in the Byzantine and Gothic styles.
• Poland became dependent on the Holy Roman Empire.
• An administrative reform was carried out, as a result of which the Piast kingdom was divided into provinces, and they were divided into castels, that is, urban districts. There were regions that later became voivodeships.

Fragmentation period

At the beginning of the 12th c. Poland, like many medieval states of that time, broke up into separate principalities. Political chaos and constant dynastic struggle began, in which vassals, the church, and princes took part. The situation was aggravated by the attack of the Mongol-Tatars, who in the middle of the 13th century. robbed and devastated almost the entire state. At this time, the raids of the Lithuanians, Prussians, Hungarians, and Teutons intensified. The latter colonized the Baltic coast, creating their own state. Because of him, Poland lost access to the Baltic for a long time.

The consequences of fragmentation were:

• The central government completely lost its influence and control in the kingdom.
• Poland was ruled by representatives of the highest aristocracy and petty nobles, who tried to protect the borders of the state from external enemies.
• Most of the Polish lands were deserted, the population was killed or taken prisoner by the Mongol-Tatars. German colonists rushed to the empty lands.
• New cities began to appear, in which the Magdeburg Law became widespread.
• Polish peasants became dependent on the nobility, while German colonists were free.

The unification of the Polish lands was started by Vladislav Loketek, the prince of Kuyavia, crowned as Vladislav the First. He laid the foundations of a new kingdom, the development of which is associated with the reign of Casimir the Third the Great, the son of Vladislav. His reign is considered one of the most successful in Europe in the 14th century, since he not only revived Poland and the national identity of the Poles, but carried out many reforms and military campaigns. Thanks to this, Poland turned into a leading player on the European continent, Hungary, France, East Prussia, Kievan Rus, Wallachia were considered with its policy.

The coming to power of the Jagiellons

Casimir the Great was succeeded by Louis of Hungary, or Louis the Great. When he died, the nobles made his youngest daughter Jadwiga their queen, who was forced to marry the Lithuanian pagan prince Jogaila. He converted to Catholicism under the terms of the Union of Krevo, was crowned under the name of Vladislav II and became the founder of the Jagiellonian dynasty.

Under him, Poland and Lithuania made the first attempt to unite within the framework of a political union into a state union.

Jagiello was a successful politician who laid the foundation for Poland's golden age. His heir Casimir the Fourth defeated the Teutonic Order, linked Poland with dynastic ties to Lithuania, and returned territories along the Baltic Sea.

In the 16th c. Poland began to compete and successfully compete with many European states. In particular, the lands of the former Kievan and Galician Rus were seized, and Lithuania was finally annexed. The golden age of the Polish medieval state is characterized by the following manifestations:

• Adoption of the first constitution of the kingdom.
• Approval of a bicameral parliament - the Sejm and the Senate.
• Building a strong army.
• Giving huge privileges to the nobility and aristocracy.
• Active foreign policy.
• Successful defense of the external borders of the state.
• Neutralization of Brandenburg and Prussia.
• Creation of the Commonwealth, which included Poland and Lithuania.
• Strengthening the central authority of the king, whose office became elective.
• Universities were founded, which became outposts for the spread of Catholicism in Central and Eastern Europe.
• The signing of the Brest Union.
• The revitalization of the activities of the Jesuits, who taught Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Belarusians in their collegiums and higher educational institutions.

King Sigismund II died childless, which caused a gradual weakening of the central apparatus of power. The Sejm received the right to choose the heir to the throne, and the powers of the Parliament expanded significantly. At the end of the 16th century, Poland gradually began to transform from a limited monarchy into an aristocratic parliamentary republic. Representatives to the executive authorities were appointed for life, and the king was forced to actively cooperate with parliament.

The end of the golden age came in the 17th century, when Cossack uprisings became permanent, culminating in a war for liberation from the influence of Poland. External threat began to come from Russia, Turkey, East Prussia. Throughout the 17th century, the Polish kings and army fought with neighboring states:

• First, East Prussia was lost.
• Then the Left Bank of Ukraine according to the Andrusovo truce.
• Russia has increased its influence in Warsaw.

The constant warfare caused chaos and unrest in the kingdom itself. The magnates and the aristocracy passed to the service of the Moscow sovereigns, swearing allegiance to them. The Poles made attempts to participate in the political life of the country, but all attempts at uprisings ended in failure.

Three sections of the Commonwealth

During the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of independent Poland, the state was divided into several parts. The ruler did not offer resistance, since he was a protege of Russia.

The prerequisites for the first partition of Poland in 1772 were the Russian-Turkish war and mass uprisings in Poland. The lands of the kingdom at that time were divided by Austria, Russia and Prussia.

In the occupied lands, an elective monarchy and constitution were preserved, a state council was created, and the Jesuit order was dissolved. In 1791, a new constitution was adopted, Poland became a hereditary monarchy with an executive system, a parliament that was elected every two years.

The second partition took place in 1793, the land was divided between Prussia and Russia. Two years later, Austria also took part in the division of the territory, since then the Kingdom of Poland has disappeared from the political map of Europe.

Dramatic 19th century

A large number of representatives of the Polish nobility and aristocracy migrated to France and England. Here they developed plans for the restoration of Poland's independence. The first attempt was made at the beginning of the 19th century, when Napoleon began his conquest of Europe. In France, legions of Poles were immediately formed, who took part in the campaigns of Bonaparte.

In the Polish territories that were part of Prussia, Napoleon created the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. It existed from 1807 to 1815, in 1809 the Polish lands taken from Austria were annexed to it. There were 4.5 million Poles living in the Principality who were subject to France.

In 1815, the Congress of Vienna was held, which fixed the territorial changes concerning Poland. Firstly, Krakow became a completely free city with republican rights. He was patronized by Austria, Russia, Prussia.

Secondly, the west of the Principality of Warsaw was given to Prussia, whose rulers called this part of Poland the Grand Duchy of Poznań. Thirdly, the eastern part of the state formation created by Napoleon was given to Russia. This is how the Kingdom of Poland arose.

The Poles as part of these states were a constant problem for the monarchs, as they raised uprisings, created their own parties, developed literature and language, Polish traditions and culture. The best situation for the Poles was in Austria, where the monarchs gave permission for the establishment of universities in Krakow and Lvov. The activities of several parties were officially allowed, the Poles entered the Austrian parliament.

Poland in the 20th century

The intelligentsia in every part of the former kingdom seized every opportunity to start a massive national revival. Such an opportunity presented itself in 1914, when the First World War broke out. The "Polish question" was one of the key ones in the politics of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany. The monarchies manipulated the desire of the Poles to revive their own state. The tragedy was that the Poles fought in different armies on the fronts of the First World War. There was no unity between the political parties, between the aristocracy and the intelligentsia.

Despite disagreements and contradictions among the Polish political circles and the monarchy, in 1918, by decision of the Entente countries, Poland was revived as an independent state. The country was recognized by the USA, Britain, France. All full power went to the regency council, which was headed by Józef Pilsudski. In 1919, he became president of the country, elections were held for the Sejm.

According to the decisions of the Versailles Conference, the borders of Poland were approved, although for a long time the question of "Eastern cresses" remained open. These are lands, the right to own which was disputed by the Ukrainian and Polish authorities. Only the Treaty of Riga, signed in 1921, temporarily solved this problem.

During the 1920s–1930s. Piłsudski and his government tried to put the country in order. But the situation still remained unstable in all areas.

The president himself and his supporters successfully took advantage of this by carrying out a military coup in 1925. A sanation regime was established in Poland, which existed until 1935, when Piłsudski died. Then there was a return to the presidential form of government, but the internal situation worsened all the time. The anti-Semitic policy intensified, the activities of the political party and the Sejm were limited. The government, realizing that a new war was brewing in Europe, tried to secure the borders. The policy of non-alignment provided for the refusal to enter into various military-political blocs, from signing non-aggression pacts with neighboring states. As history has shown, this did not save Poland.

On September 1, 1939, Germany occupied the country, western Ukraine and Belarus went to the Soviet Union.

World War II was a national tragedy for Poland. The Third Reich considered Poles third-class people, sending them to hard work, exterminating them in concentration camps, killing them for espionage, terrorist acts. Many cities, historical centers of Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Danzig, ports, infrastructure were destroyed. The Germans, leaving Poland, blew up churches, enterprises, robbed, took out objects of art, painting, architecture by wagons.

The country was liberated from occupation by the Red Army, which allowed Stalin to include Poland in the zone of influence of the USSR. The communists came to power, persecuting everyone who was not ready or did not agree to accept the new realities.

Radical changes began in the 1980s, when the Solidarity Party was created and the Cold War became a semblance, not a reality, in the countries of the socialist bloc. This period of time was very difficult for the republic. Crisis phenomena have engulfed enterprises, mines, financial and economic systems, and authorities. The constant rise in prices, high unemployment, strikes, demonstrations, inflation only complicated the situation and made any government reforms ineffective.

In 1989, Solidarity, headed by Lech Walesa, won the elections to the Sejm. In Poland, radical transformations began that affected all spheres of public life. In many ways, the success of the reforms was determined by the support of the Catholic Church and the removal of the Communists from power.

Walesa was president until 1995, when he was beaten in the first round by the votes of Alexander Kwasniewski.

Modern Poland

Kwasniewski was chosen by the Poles because they were tired of decades of shock therapy and political instability. The new president promised to bring the country into the EU and NATO. The presidential cadence of the new head of state was not easy, as evidenced by the constant change of government. Nevertheless, a new constitution was adopted, a reform was carried out in the executive, legislative and judicial authorities, the economy began to stabilize, jobs appeared, the situation of workers in enterprises improved, the mines and the market began to work again, and the list of goods that Poland exported abroad expanded.

Kwasniewski was re-elected president in 2000, allowing him to continue the course of reforms begun in previous years. The head of state, like his government, was guided by the countries of the West. The European vector was clearly visible in the domestic and foreign policy of Poland. In 1999, the republic became a member of the North Atlantic Alliance, and five years later it was admitted to the EU.

In the 2010s Poland established close ties with the countries of the region: Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, creating the Visegrad Four. Separate areas that are strategically important for the country are Ukraine and Russia.

Poland today has become one of the key players in the EU, determining the vectors of the Union's foreign policy towards the countries of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The country participates in various regional organizations and associations, creates a system for protecting its own borders. The processes of globalization have changed the labor market and the economic situation, as a result of which Poles began to leave en masse to work in Germany, Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavian countries. The ethnic structure of the population is also changing, which is associated with the massive influx of labor migrants from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Poland is also forced to accept refugees from Arab countries who flee to the EU from wars in their states.

As a result of the fragmentation of Poland, the dependence of the state on the highest aristocracy and the petty nobility began to grow, whose support it needed to protect itself from external enemies. The extermination of the population by the Mongol-Tatars and Lithuanian tribes led to an influx of German settlers into the Polish lands, who either created cities themselves, governed by the laws of Magdeburg law, or received land as free peasants. In contrast, the Polish peasants, like the peasants of almost all of Europe at that time, began to gradually fall into serfdom.

The reunification of most of Poland was carried out by Vladislav Loketok (Ladislav the Short) from Kuyavia, a principality in the north-central part of the country. In 1320 he was crowned as Vladislav I. However, the national revival is more connected with the successful rule of his son, Casimir III the Great (r. 1333–1370). Casimir strengthened the royal power, reformed the administration, legal and monetary systems according to the Western model, promulgated a set of laws called the Wislice Statutes (1347), eased the situation of the peasants and allowed Jews to settle in Poland - victims of religious persecution in Western Europe. He failed to regain access to the Baltic Sea; he also lost Silesia (withdrawn to the Czech Republic), but captured in the east Galicia, Volhynia and Podolia. In 1364 Casimir founded the first Polish university in Krakow, one of the oldest in Europe. Having no son, Casimir bequeathed the kingdom to his nephew Louis I the Great (Louis of Hungary), at that time one of the most powerful monarchs in Europe. Under Louis (r. 1370–1382), Polish nobles (gentry) received the so-called. Kosice privileges (1374), according to which they were exempted from almost all taxes, having received the right not to pay taxes above a certain amount. In return, the nobles promised to transfer the throne to one of the daughters of King Louis.

Jagiellonian dynasty

After the death of Louis, the Poles turned to his youngest daughter Jadwiga with a request to become their queen. Jadwiga married Jagiello (Jogaila, or Jagiello), the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who ruled in Poland under the name Vladislav II (r. 1386–1434). Vladislav II accepted Christianity himself and converted the Lithuanian people to it, founding one of the most powerful dynasties in Europe. The vast territories of Poland and Lithuania were united in a powerful state union. Lithuania became the last pagan people in Europe to adopt Christianity, so the presence of the Teutonic Order of the Crusaders here lost its meaning. However, the crusaders were no longer going to leave. In 1410, the Poles and Lithuanians defeated the Teutonic Order at the Battle of Grunwald. In 1413 they approved the Polish-Lithuanian Union in Horodlo, and public institutions of the Polish type appeared in Lithuania. Casimir IV (r. 1447–1492) tried to limit the power of the nobility and the church, but was forced to confirm their privileges and the rights of the Sejm, which included the higher clergy, the aristocracy, and the petty nobility. In 1454, he granted the noblemen the Neshav Statutes, similar to the English Magna Carta. The thirteen-year war with the Teutonic Order (1454-1466) ended with the victory of Poland, and under the agreement in Torun on October 19, 1466, Pomerania and Gdansk were returned to Poland. The order recognized itself as a vassal of Poland.

Golden Age of Poland

16th century became the golden age of Polish history. At this time, Poland was one of the largest countries in Europe, it dominated Eastern Europe, and its culture reached its peak. However, the emergence of a centralized Russian state that claimed the lands of the former Kievan Rus, the unification and strengthening of Brandenburg and Prussia in the west and north, and the threat of the militant Ottoman Empire in the south posed a great danger to the country. In 1505, in Radom, King Alexander (reigned 1501–1506) was forced to adopt a constitution “nothing new” (Latin nihil novi), according to which the parliament received the right to an equal vote with the monarch in making state decisions and the right to veto all issues, concerning the nobility. According to this constitution, the parliament consisted of two chambers - the Sejm, in which the petty nobility was represented, and the Senate, which represented the highest aristocracy and the highest clergy. The long and open borders of Poland, as well as frequent wars, made it necessary to have a powerful trained army in order to ensure the security of the kingdom. The monarchs lacked the funds needed to maintain such an army. Therefore, they were forced to obtain the sanction of Parliament for any large expenditures. The aristocracy (monarchy) and the petty nobility (gentry) demanded privileges for their loyalty. As a result, a system of "small local noble democracy" was formed in Poland, with the gradual expansion of the influence of the richest and most powerful magnates.

Rzeczpospolita

In 1525, Albrecht of Brandenburg, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, converted to Lutheranism, and the Polish king Sigismund I (r. 1506–1548) allowed him to transform the possessions of the Teutonic Order into the hereditary Duchy of Prussia under Polish suzerainty. During the reign of Sigismund II Augustus (1548-1572), the last king of the Jagiellonian dynasty, Poland reached its greatest power. Krakow became one of the largest European centers of the humanities, architecture and art of the Renaissance, Polish poetry and prose, and for a number of years - the center of the reformation. In 1561, Poland annexed Livonia, and on July 1, 1569, at the height of the Livonian War with Russia, the personal royal Polish-Lithuanian union was replaced by the Union of Lublin. The united Polish-Lithuanian state began to be called the Commonwealth (Polish "common cause"). From that time on, the same king was to be elected by the aristocracy in Lithuania and Poland; there was one parliament (Seim) and common laws; common money was put into circulation; religious tolerance became common in both parts of the country. The last question was of particular importance, since large territories conquered in the past by the Lithuanian princes were inhabited by Orthodox Christians.

Elective Kings: The Decline of the Polish State.

Henryk articles. After the death of the childless Sigismund II, the central power in the vast Polish-Lithuanian state began to weaken. At a stormy meeting of the Diet, a new king, Henry (Henrik) Valois (r. 1573–1574; he later became Henry III of France) was elected. At the same time, he was forced to accept the principle of “free election” (election of the king by the nobility), as well as the “consent pact”, which each new monarch had to swear. The right of the king to choose his heir was transferred to the Sejm. The king was also prohibited from declaring war or raising taxes without the consent of Parliament. He had to be neutral in religious matters, he had to marry on the recommendation of the senate. The council, which consisted of 16 senators appointed by the Sejm, constantly advised him. If the king did not fulfill any of the articles, the people could refuse him obedience. Thus, the Henryk Articles changed the status of the state - Poland moved from a limited monarchy to an aristocratic parliamentary republic; the head of the executive branch, elected for life, did not have sufficient powers to govern the state.

Stefan Batory (r. 1575–1586). The weakening of the supreme power in Poland, which had long and poorly protected borders, but aggressive neighbors, whose power was based on centralization and military force, largely predetermined the future collapse of the Polish state. Henry of Valois ruled for only 13 months, and then left for France, where he received the throne, vacated after the death of his brother Charles IX. The Senate and the Sejm could not agree on the candidacy of the next king, and the gentry finally elected Stefan Batory, Prince of Transylvania (r. 1575–1586), giving him a princess from the Jagiellonian dynasty as his wife. Batory strengthened Polish power over Gdansk, ousted Ivan the Terrible from the Baltic states and returned Livonia. At home, he won the loyalty and help in the fight against the Ottoman Empire from the Cossacks - runaway serfs who organized a military republic on the vast plains of Ukraine - a kind of "border strip" stretching from southeast Poland to the Black Sea along the Dnieper. Bathory gave privileges to the Jews, who were allowed to have their own parliament. He reformed the judiciary, and in 1579 founded a university in Vilna (Vilnius), which became an outpost of Catholicism and European culture in the east.

Sigismund III Vase. A zealous Catholic, Sigismund III Vasa (r. 1587–1632), the son of Johan III of Sweden and Catherine, daughter of Sigismund I, decided to create a Polish-Swedish coalition to fight Russia and return Sweden to the bosom of Catholicism. In 1592 he became the Swedish king.

In order to spread Catholicism among the Orthodox population at the Cathedral in Brest in 1596, the Uniate Church was established, which recognized the supremacy of the Pope, but continued to use Orthodox rituals. The opportunity to seize the throne of Moscow after the suppression of the Rurik dynasty involved the Commonwealth in the war with Russia. In 1610, Polish troops occupied Moscow. The vacant royal throne was offered by the Moscow boyars to Sigismund's son, Vladislav. However, the Muscovites rebelled, and with the help of the people's militia under the leadership of Minin and Pozharsky, the Poles were expelled from Moscow. Sigismund's attempts to introduce absolutism in Poland, which at that time already dominated the rest of Europe, led to a revolt of the gentry and the loss of the king's prestige.

After the death of Albrecht II of Prussia in 1618, the Elector of Brandenburg became the ruler of the Duchy of Prussia. Since that time, the possessions of Poland on the coast of the Baltic Sea have become a corridor between two provinces of the same German state.

decline

During the reign of Sigismund's son, Vladislav IV (1632–1648), the Ukrainian Cossacks revolted against Poland, the wars with Russia and Turkey weakened the country, and the gentry received new privileges in the form of political rights and exemption from income taxes. Under the rule of Vladislav's brother Jan Casimir (1648–1668), the Cossack freemen began to behave even more militantly, the Swedes occupied most of Poland, including the capital, Warsaw, and the king, abandoned by his subjects, was forced to flee to Silesia. In 1657 Poland renounced sovereign rights to East Prussia. As a result of unsuccessful wars with Russia, Poland lost Kyiv and all areas east of the Dnieper under the Andrusovo truce (1667). The process of disintegration began in the country. The magnates, creating alliances with neighboring states, pursued their own goals; the rebellion of Prince Jerzy Lubomirski shook the foundations of the monarchy; the gentry continued to defend their own “freedoms”, which was suicidal for the state. Since 1652, she began to abuse the pernicious practice of "liberum veto", which allowed any deputy to block a decision that he did not like, demand the dissolution of the Sejm and put forward any proposals that should have been considered by its next composition. Taking advantage of this, the neighboring powers, through bribery and other means, repeatedly frustrated the implementation of decisions of the Sejm that were objectionable to them. King Jan Casimir was broken and abdicated the Polish throne in 1668, in the midst of internal anarchy and strife.

External intervention: prelude to partition

Mikhail Vyshnevetsky (r. 1669–1673) turned out to be an unprincipled and inactive monarch who played along with the Habsburgs and ceded Podolia to the Turks. His successor, Jan III Sobieski (r. 1674–1696), waged successful wars with the Ottoman Empire, saved Vienna from the Turks (1683), but was forced to cede some lands to Russia under an "Eternal Peace" treaty in exchange for her promises of assistance in struggle against the Crimean Tatars and Turks. After the death of Sobieski, the Polish throne in the new capital of the country, Warsaw, was occupied for 70 years by foreigners: the Elector of Saxony August II (r. 1697–1704, 1709–1733) and his son August III (1734–1763). August II actually bribed the electors. Having united in an alliance with Peter I, he returned Podolia and Volhynia and stopped the exhausting Polish-Turkish wars, concluding the Karlovitsky Peace with the Ottoman Empire in 1699. The Polish king unsuccessfully tried to recapture the Baltic coast from the King of Sweden, Charles XII, who invaded Poland in 1701, and in 1703 he took Warsaw and Krakow. August II was forced to yield the throne in 1704-1709 to Stanislav Leshchinsky, who was supported by Sweden, but returned to the throne again when Peter I defeated Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava (1709). In 1733, the Poles, supported by the French, elected Stanislav king for the second time, but the Russian troops again removed him from power.

Stanisław II: the last Polish king. Augustus III was nothing more than a puppet of Russia; patriotic Poles tried with all their might to save the state. One of the factions of the Sejm, led by Prince Czartoryski, tried to cancel the pernicious "liberum veto", while the other, led by the powerful Potocki family, opposed any restriction of "freedoms". Desperate, Czartoryski's party began to cooperate with the Russians, and in 1764 Catherine II, Empress of Russia, succeeded in electing her favorite Stanisław August Poniatowski as King of Poland (1764–1795). Poniatowski was the last king of Poland. Russian control became especially evident under Prince N.V. Repnin, who, being ambassador to Poland, in 1767 forced the Sejm of Poland to accept his demands for equality of confessions and the preservation of the “liberum veto”. This led in 1768 to an uprising of Catholics (the Bar Confederation) and even to a war between Russia and Turkey.

Partitions of Poland. First section

In the midst of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774, Prussia, Russia and Austria carried out the first partition of Poland. It was produced in 1772 and ratified by the Sejm under pressure from the occupiers in 1773. Poland ceded to Austria part of Pomerania and Kuyavia (excluding Gdansk and Torun) to Prussia; Galicia, Western Podolia and part of Lesser Poland; eastern Belarus and all lands north of the Western Dvina and east of the Dnieper went to Russia. The victors established a new constitution for Poland, which retained the "liberum veto" and elective monarchy, and created a State Council of 36 elected members of the Sejm. The division of the country awakened a social movement for reform and national revival. In 1773, the Jesuit Order was dissolved and a commission for public education was created, the purpose of which was to reorganize the system of schools and colleges. The four-year Sejm (1788–1792), headed by enlightened patriots Stanislav Malachovsky, Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kollontai, adopted a new constitution on May 3, 1791. Under this constitution, Poland became a hereditary monarchy with a ministerial system of executive power and a parliament elected every two years. The principle of "liberum veto" and other pernicious practices were abolished; cities received administrative and judicial autonomy, as well as representation in parliament; peasants, over whom the power of the gentry was maintained, were considered as an estate under state protection; measures were taken to prepare for the abolition of serfdom and the organization of a regular army. The normal work of the parliament and the reforms became possible only because Russia was involved in a protracted war with Sweden, and Turkey supported Poland. However, the magnates opposed the constitution and formed the Targowice Confederation, at the call of which the troops of Russia and Prussia entered Poland.

Second and third sections

January 23, 1793 Prussia and Russia carried out the second partition of Poland. Prussia captured Gdansk, Torun, Greater Poland and Mazovia, and Russia captured most of Lithuania and Belarus, almost all of Volhynia and Podolia. The Poles fought but were defeated, the reforms of the Four Years Sejm were reversed, and the rest of Poland became a puppet state. In 1794, Tadeusz Kosciuszko led a massive popular uprising, which ended in defeat. The third partition of Poland, in which Austria participated, took place on October 24, 1795; after that, Poland as an independent state disappeared from the map of Europe.

foreign rule. Grand Duchy of Warsaw

Although the Polish state ceased to exist, the Poles did not give up hope for the restoration of their independence. Each new generation fought, either by joining the opponents of the powers that divided Poland, or by raising uprisings. As soon as Napoleon I began his military campaigns against monarchical Europe, Polish legions were formed in France. Having defeated Prussia, Napoleon created in 1807 from the territories captured by Prussia during the second and third partitions, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (1807–1815). Two years later, territories that became part of Austria after the third partition were added to it. Miniature Poland, politically dependent on France, had a territory of 160 thousand square meters. km and 4350 thousand inhabitants. The creation of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was considered by the Poles as the beginning of their complete liberation.

Territory that was part of Russia. After the defeat of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna (1815) approved the partitions of Poland with the following changes: Krakow was declared a free city-republic under the auspices of the three powers that divided Poland (1815–1848); the western part of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was transferred to Prussia and became known as the Grand Duchy of Poznań (1815–1846); its other part was declared a monarchy (the so-called Kingdom of Poland) and annexed to the Russian Empire. In November 1830, the Poles raised an uprising against Russia, but were defeated. Emperor Nicholas I canceled the constitution of the Kingdom of Poland and began repressions. In 1846 and 1848 the Poles tried to organize uprisings, but failed. In 1863, a second uprising broke out against Russia, and after two years of partisan warfare, the Poles were again defeated. With the development of capitalism in Russia, the Russification of Polish society also intensified. The situation improved somewhat after the 1905 revolution in Russia. Polish deputies sat in all four Russian Dumas (1905–1917), seeking Polish autonomy.

Territories controlled by Prussia. On the territory under the rule of Prussia, an intensive Germanization of the former Polish regions was carried out, the farms of Polish peasants were expropriated, and Polish schools were closed. Russia helped Prussia put down the Poznan uprising of 1848. In 1863 both powers concluded the Alvensleben Convention on Mutual Assistance in the Fight against the Polish National Movement. Despite all the efforts of the authorities, at the end of the 19th century. The Poles of Prussia still represented a strong, organized national community.

Polish lands within Austria

On the Austrian Polish lands, the situation was somewhat better. After the Krakow uprising of 1846, the regime was liberalized, and Galicia received local administrative control; schools, institutions and courts used Polish; Jagiellonian (in Krakow) and Lviv universities became all-Polish cultural centers; by the beginning of the 20th century. Polish political parties emerged (National Democratic, Polish Socialist and Peasant). In all three parts of divided Poland, Polish society actively opposed assimilation. The preservation of the Polish language and Polish culture became the main task of the struggle waged by the intelligentsia, primarily poets and writers, as well as the clergy of the Catholic Church.

World War I

New opportunities for achieving independence. The First World War divided the powers that liquidated Poland: Russia was at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary. This situation opened up fateful opportunities for the Poles, but also created new difficulties. First, the Poles had to fight in opposing armies; secondly, Poland became the scene of battles between the warring powers; thirdly, disagreements between Polish political groups escalated. Conservative national democrats led by Roman Dmovsky (1864–1939) considered Germany the main enemy and desired the victory of the Entente. Their goal was to unite all Polish lands under Russian control and obtain the status of autonomy. The radical elements, led by the Polish Socialist Party (PPS), on the contrary, considered the defeat of Russia as the most important condition for achieving Poland's independence. They believed that the Poles should create their own armed forces. A few years before the outbreak of World War I, Józef Piłsudski (1867–1935), the radical leader of this group, embarked on military training for Polish youth in Galicia. During the war, he formed the Polish legions and fought on the side of Austria-Hungary.

Polish question

August 14, 1914 Nicholas I in an official declaration promised after the war to unite the three parts of Poland into an autonomous state within the Russian Empire. However, in the fall of 1915, most of Russian Poland was occupied by Germany and Austria-Hungary, and on November 5, 1916, the monarchs of the two powers announced a manifesto on the creation of an independent Polish Kingdom in the Russian part of Poland. On March 30, 1917, after the February Revolution in Russia, the Provisional Government of Prince Lvov recognized Poland's right to self-determination. July 22, 1917 Pilsudski, who fought on the side of the Central Powers, was interned, and his legions were disbanded for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the emperors of Austria-Hungary and Germany. In France, with the support of the powers of the Entente, in August 1917 the Polish National Committee (PNC) was created, headed by Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Paderewski; the Polish army was also formed with the commander-in-chief Józef Haller. On January 8, 1918, US President Wilson demanded the creation of an independent Polish state with access to the Baltic Sea. In June 1918 Poland was officially recognized as a country fighting on the side of the Entente. On October 6, during the period of the collapse and collapse of the Central Powers, the Regency Council of Poland announced the creation of an independent Polish state, and on November 14, Piłsudski transferred full power in the country. By this time, Germany had already capitulated, Austria-Hungary had collapsed, and a civil war was going on in Russia.

State formation

The new country faced great difficulties. Cities and villages lay in ruins; there were no connections in the economy, which for a long time developed within the framework of three different states; Poland had neither its own currency nor government institutions; finally, its borders were not defined and agreed with the neighbors. Nevertheless, state building and economic recovery proceeded at a rapid pace. After a transitional period, when the socialist cabinet was in power, on January 17, 1919, Paderewski was appointed prime minister, and Dmowski was appointed head of the Polish delegation at the Versailles Peace Conference. On January 26, 1919, elections were held to the Sejm, the new composition of which approved Piłsudski as head of state.

The Question of Borders

The western and northern borders of the country were determined at the Versailles Conference, according to which part of the Pomerania and access to the Baltic Sea were transferred to Poland; Danzig (Gdansk) received the status of a "free city". At a conference of ambassadors on July 28, 1920, the southern border was agreed upon. The city of Cieszyn and its suburb Cesky Teszyn were divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia. Violent disputes between Poland and Lithuania over Vilna (Vilnius), an ethnically Polish but historically Lithuanian city, ended with its occupation by the Poles on October 9, 1920; accession to Poland was approved on February 10, 1922 by a democratically elected regional assembly.

April 21, 1920 Pilsudski made an alliance with the Ukrainian leader Petliura and launched an offensive to liberate Ukraine from the Bolsheviks. On May 7, the Poles took Kyiv, but on June 8, pressed by the Red Army, they began to retreat. At the end of July, the Bolsheviks were on the outskirts of Warsaw. However, the Poles managed to defend the capital and repel the enemy; this ended the war. The treaty of Riga that followed (March 18, 1921) was a territorial compromise for both sides and was officially recognized by the conference of ambassadors on March 15, 1923.

Internal position

One of the first post-war events in the country was the adoption of a new constitution on March 17, 1921. It established a republican system in Poland, established a bicameral (Sejm and Senate) parliament, proclaimed freedom of speech and organizations, equality of citizens before the law. However, the internal situation of the new state was difficult. Poland was in a state of political, social and economic instability. The Sejm was politically fragmented due to the multitude of parties and political groups represented in it. Constantly changing government coalitions were characterized by instability, and the executive branch as a whole was weak. There were tensions with national minorities, which made up a third of the population. The Locarno Treaties of 1925 did not guarantee the security of Poland's western borders, and the Dawes Plan contributed to the restoration of the German military-industrial potential. Under these conditions, on May 12, 1926, Pilsudski carried out a military coup and established a "sanation" regime in the country; Until his death on May 12, 1935, he directly or indirectly controlled all power in the country. The Communist Party was banned, and political trials with long prison sentences became commonplace. As German Nazism intensified, restrictions were introduced on the basis of anti-Semitism. On April 22, 1935, a new constitution was adopted, which significantly expanded the power of the president, limiting the rights of political parties and the powers of parliament. The new constitution was not approved by the opposition political parties, and the struggle between them and the Piłsudski regime continued until the outbreak of World War II.

Foreign policy

The leaders of the new Polish Republic tried to secure their state by pursuing a policy of non-alignment. Poland did not join the Little Entente, which included Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania. On January 25, 1932, a non-aggression pact was signed with the USSR.

After Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, Poland failed to establish allied relations with France, while Great Britain and France concluded a "pact of consent and cooperation" with Germany and Italy. After that, on January 26, 1934, Poland and Germany signed a non-aggression pact for a period of 10 years, and soon the duration of a similar agreement with the USSR was extended. In March 1936, after the military occupation of the Rhineland by Germany, Poland again unsuccessfully tried to conclude an agreement with France and Belgium on Poland's support for them in the event of a war with Germany. In October 1938, simultaneously with the annexation of the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany, Poland occupied the Czechoslovak part of the Teszyn region. In March 1939, Hitler occupied Czechoslovakia and put forward territorial claims to Poland. On March 31, Great Britain, and on April 13, France guaranteed the territorial integrity of Poland; in the summer of 1939, Franco-Anglo-Soviet negotiations began in Moscow aimed at curbing German expansion. The Soviet Union in these negotiations demanded for itself the right to occupy the eastern part of Poland and at the same time entered into secret negotiations with the Nazis. On August 23, 1939, a German-Soviet non-aggression pact was concluded, the secret protocols of which provided for the division of Poland between Germany and the USSR. Having ensured Soviet neutrality, Hitler untied his hands. On September 1, 1939, World War II began with an attack on Poland.

Government in exile

The Poles, who, contrary to promises, did not receive military assistance from France and Great Britain (both of them declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939), could not hold back the unexpected invasion of powerful motorized German armies. The situation became hopeless after the Soviet troops attacked Poland from the east on 17 September. The Polish government and the remnants of the armed forces crossed the border into Romania, where they were interned. The Polish government in exile was headed by General Władysław Sikorski. In France, new Polish army, naval and air forces were formed with a total strength of 80 thousand people. The Poles fought on the side of France until its defeat in June 1940; then the Polish government moved to the UK, where it reorganized the army, which later fought in Norway, North Africa and Western Europe. In the Battle of England in 1940, Polish pilots destroyed more than 15% of all downed German aircraft. In total, more than 300 thousand Poles served abroad, in the armed forces of the allies.

German occupation

The German occupation of Poland was particularly brutal. Hitler included part of Poland in the Third Reich, and transformed the rest of the occupied territories into a general government. All industrial and agricultural production in Poland was subordinated to the military needs of Germany. Polish higher educational institutions were closed, and the intelligentsia was persecuted. Hundreds of thousands of people were forced to work or imprisoned in concentration camps. Polish Jews were subjected to particular cruelty, who were first concentrated in several large ghettos. When in 1942 the leaders of the Reich took the "final solution" of the Jewish question, Polish Jews were deported to death camps. The largest and most infamous Nazi death camp in Poland was the camp near the city of Auschwitz, where more than 4 million people died.

The Polish people offered both civil disobedience and military resistance to the Nazi occupiers. The Polish Home Army became the strongest resistance movement in Nazi-occupied Europe. When the deportation of Warsaw Jews to death camps began in April 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto (350,000 Jews) revolted. After a month of hopeless struggle, without any outside help, the uprising was crushed. The Germans destroyed the ghetto, and the surviving Jewish population was deported to the Treblinka extermination camp.

The Polish-Soviet Treaty of July 30, 1941. After the German attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, the Polish government in exile under British pressure concluded an agreement with the Soviet Union. Under this treaty, diplomatic relations between Poland and the USSR were restored; the Soviet-German pact regarding the partition of Poland was annulled; all prisoners of war and deported Poles were to be released; The Soviet Union provided its territory for the formation of the Polish army. However, the Soviet government did not comply with the terms of the agreement. It refused to recognize the pre-war Polish-Soviet border and released only a part of the Poles who were in Soviet camps.

On April 26, 1943, the Soviet Union severed diplomatic relations with the Polish government in exile, protesting against the latter's appeal to the International Red Cross with a request to investigate the brutal murder of 10,000 Polish officers interned in 1939 in Katyn. Subsequently, the Soviet authorities formed the core of the future Polish communist government and army in the Soviet Union. In November-December 1943, at a conference of three powers in Tehran (Iran), an agreement was reached between the Soviet leader I.V. Stalin, American President F. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister W. Churchill that the eastern border of Poland should pass along the line Curzon (it approximately corresponded to the border drawn in accordance with the 1939 treaty between the German and Soviet governments).

Lublin government

In January 1944, the Red Army crossed the border of Poland, pursuing the retreating German troops, and on July 22, the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKNO) was created in Lublin with the support of the USSR. On August 1, 1944, the underground armed forces of the Home Army in Warsaw, under the leadership of General Tadeusz Komorowski, began an uprising against the Germans. The Red Army, which was at that moment on the outskirts of Warsaw on the opposite bank of the Vistula, suspended its offensive. After 62 days of desperate fighting, the uprising was crushed, and Warsaw was almost completely destroyed. On January 5, 1945, the PKNO in Lublin was reorganized into the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland.

At the Yalta Conference (February 4-11, 1945), Churchill and Roosevelt officially recognized the inclusion of the eastern part of Poland into the USSR, agreeing with Stalin that Poland would receive compensation from the German territories in the west. In addition, the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition agreed that non-communists would be included in the Lublin government, and then free elections would be held in Poland. Stanisław Mikołajczyk, who resigned as prime minister of the government in exile, and other members of his cabinet joined the Lublin government. On July 5, 1945, after the victory over Germany, it was recognized by Great Britain and the USA as the Provisional Government of National Unity of Poland. The government in exile, which at that time was headed by the leader of the Polish Socialist Party, Tomasz Artsyszewski, was dissolved. In August 1945, at the Potsdam Conference, an agreement was reached that the southern part of East Prussia and the territory of Germany east of the Oder and Neisse rivers were transferred under Polish control. The Soviet Union also provided Poland with 15% of the 10 billion dollars in reparations that defeated Germany had to pay.

Post-war Poland

With the presence of Red Army units in Poland, the Soviet Union easily transferred power to the Polish communists. The Soviet military authorities persecuted members of non-communist organizations and members of the former Polish underground. Mikolajczyk and members of his Polish Peasants' Party were persecuted. The communists gradually took over power in the Polish army, police, economy and media.

Stalinization of Poland

The first post-war elections to the Polish parliament took place on January 19, 1947. Out of 444 seats in the Sejm, the Communists (PPR) received 382, ​​and the Polish Peasants' Party - 28. The Sejm elected the communist Bolesław Bierut as president of the country, and the process of Stalinization of the country began. In October 1947, Mikolajczyk and several other leaders of the Polish Peasants' Party fled to the West. In September 1948, Władysław Gomułka, general secretary of the Polish Workers' Party and deputy prime minister, was accused of "national deviation" (i.e., lack of loyalty to Stalin) and removed from his posts. In December 1948, the Polish Workers' Party merged with the purged Polish Socialist Party and became known as the Polish United Workers' Party (PUWP), which was headed by Bierut. In November 1949, the Polish Peasants' Party, deprived of independent leadership, was merged with communist-controlled peasant political groups under the name of the United Peasants' Party. In the same month, Soviet Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky became Minister of National Defense and Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces. On June 7, 1950, an agreement was signed between Poland and the GDR, recognizing the Oder-Neisse line as the permanent western border of Poland. The Catholic Church, which became the main hindrance, was persecuted, culminating in the arrest in September 1953 of the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński.

In 1949 Poland joined the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance organized by the Soviet Union. In 1955 it became part of the military organization of the Warsaw Pact. Since the Polish constitution of 22 July 1952 abolished the post of president, Bierut became prime minister. In 1954, he ceded this post to Jozef Cyrankiewicz, but remained the head of the PZPR until his death in 1956.

Poznań uprising

In June 1956 ca. The 50,000 workers of Poznań joined the students in opposing the communist leadership and Soviet domination. Confidence in the leadership of the Polish communists was undermined by the events in the Soviet Union. N.S. Khrushchev, in a closed speech at the XX Congress of the CPSU, exposed the personality cult of Stalin, and later reconciled with the leader of the Yugoslav communists, Josip Broz Tito; in addition, the doctrine of "different ways of building socialism" was recognized in the USSR. These vacillations deepened the split within the PZPR between the reformists and the Stalinists. Gomulka, who was imprisoned in 1951-1954, was rehabilitated, and in October 1956 he was elected general secretary of the PUWP. He exposed terror and abuses in the party, criticized the system of economic management, forced the chairman of the Seimas of the Stalin era to resign, removed Rokossovsky and other top Soviet officers from posts in the Polish armed forces, and achieved a certain degree of independence from the USSR.

Gomułka's reign

After Gomulka returned to power, most of the collective farms were dissolved, and the land was returned to the individual peasants; private initiative was allowed in trade and industry; restrictions on the press eased; workers were given the opportunity to participate in the management of enterprises; the government began to pay more attention to the production of consumer goods. Relations between the authorities and the Catholic Church have also improved; Poland received economic aid from the United States.

However, Gomułka was at the center of a conflict between the people, who demanded further reforms, and the Stalinists within the party, who strongly opposed liberalization. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, many of the reforms that Gomułka had undertaken were suspended or cancelled. The state increased pressure on the peasants, forcing them to unite in agricultural partnerships, continued its anti-religious campaign and maintained censorship. In March 1968, these restrictions caused massive student demonstrations. The authorities responded with layoffs, arrests, and "anti-Zionist" and "anti-revisionist" campaigns, which led to the emigration of most of the surviving Polish Jews and many intellectuals from the country. The Polish leadership opposed the democratic reforms of the Prague Spring, and Polish troops took part in the occupation of Czechoslovakia in August 1968.

In December 1970, the authorities announced an increase in the prices of food and basic consumer goods and introduced a new payroll system. The workers took to the streets again. The unrest that broke out in Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin was suppressed by the army; as a result, at least 70 workers were killed and more than 1,000 injured. Gomułka had to resign as head of the PZPR. He was replaced by Edward Gierek, the party leader of a large coal region (Katowice Voivodeship). Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz was transferred to the post of Chairman of the State Council.

Gierek mode

Gierek tried to calm the workers by canceling food price hikes and raising wages. He announced the start of a new five-year plan that put more emphasis on housing and consumer goods. The peasants were reassured by the abolition of the mandatory supply of agricultural products to the state. Relations with the Catholic Church were normalized. Gierek embarked on a program of accelerated development of light industry, which was financed mainly by loans received in the West.

However, by the mid-1970s, the period of economic growth ended and a recession began. Poland accumulated huge debts to Western financial institutions, the payment of which exacerbated economic problems. In 1976 the government tried to increase export earnings by cutting food subsidies, but strikes and demonstrations forced a return to the old measures. Outrage over the mass arrests and concern for the future of the strikers and their families led to the creation of the Workers' Defense Committee, which consisted of prominent dissidents and intellectuals. In 1978 it was transformed into the Committee of Public Self-Defense, becoming the core of the organized opposition.

Another attempt to raise food prices in July 1980 sparked the biggest strikes Poland had ever known under the communists. Hundreds of thousands of workers were on strike in the Baltic cities of Gdansk, Gdynia and Szczecin; miners from Silesia and other areas joined them. The workers formed strike committees at the enterprises, which were headed by interfactory strike committees. The inter-factory committee, led by Lech Walesa, Anna Valentinowicz and Andrzej Gwiazda, put forward 22 economic and political demands, including not only higher wages and lower food prices, but also the right to form independent trade unions, the right to strike, and the relaxation of censorship. The government negotiated with the workers and eventually agreed to most of their demands. Prime Minister Edvard Babiuch resigned and was replaced by Józef Pinkowski. A few days after these appointments, Gierek himself resigned, and Stanislav Kanya took over his post.

The emergence of "Solidarity"

Having received the right to form independent trade unions, the workers began to leave the old state trade unions en masse and join the independent federation of trade unions Solidarity, created by the strikers. Solidarity's demands became more radical and strikes became more frequent, although the leadership of the trade unions, led by Lech Walesa, and the church tried to prevent actions that could provoke Soviet intervention in Poland.

Discussions between the authorities and Solidarity centered on the unions' demand for workers to be given the right to run their own factories. The party nomenklatura resisted the scheme, which deprived them of the right to appoint directors and control personnel policy. In September, Solidarity launched a sensational appeal to all workers in Eastern Europe to form free trade unions. Another wave of strikes followed. Although the police cracked down on dissidents from the Committee of Public Self-Defense and trade union activists, the confidence of the leadership of the CPSU in Kani's ability to restore order dried up, and on October 18, 1981 he was replaced by General Wojciech Jaruzelski, commander of the Polish armed forces. A military solution to the problem was on the agenda.

In December, Solidarity took a step that the Polish communists could no longer accept: the trade unions demanded a referendum on the leadership role of the Communist Party and relations between Poland and the Soviet Union. In response, on December 13, Jaruzelski imposed martial law in the country, replacing civilian authorities with the Military Council of National Salvation and arresting Solidarity leaders and other opposition figures. Strikes began in factories, mines, shipyards and universities, but most of them were put down by the police and internal security forces. The government issued a reassuring statement that it did not intend to roll back the reforms begun in 1980, but Solidarity leaders refused to compromise, and in October 1982 a law was passed replacing Solidarity with small trade unions under government control. Then the authorities released most of those arrested, and in July 1983, after a visit to Poland by Pope John Paul II, martial law was lifted. Pressure from Solidarity and international public opinion forced Jaruzelski to announce an amnesty in 1984. However, the crisis was not over; although the strikes were crushed and the threat of communist power eliminated, Solidarity continued to enjoy the mass support of the country's population.

The economic downturn continued until 1983; then industrial and agricultural production began to gradually recover. Nevertheless, the government's plans to decentralize the economy and encourage more efficient operation of enterprises met with fierce resistance from the bureaucracy and the new unions. As a result, food price subsidies and unprofitable investment projects inherited from the 1970s continued to be financed by budget deficits, fueling inflation. Between 1980 and 1987, the official consumer price index reached 500%, while the average wage rose only 400%. At the same time, the government was unwilling to resort to massive political repression and was afraid to embark on the necessary reforms. Solidarity, although greatly thinned, continued to operate illegally.

By the summer of 1988, inflationary pressures on living standards had intensified so much that a new wave of strikes swept through factories, shipyards and coal fields. The government was forced to turn to the head of Solidarity, Lech Walesa, with a request to return the strikers to their jobs, promising in exchange to liberalize politics and legalize Solidarity.

The June 4, 1989 elections brought Solidarity a resounding success. Its candidates eventually won all the seats they competed for. Jaruzelski was elected president, but the traditional allies of the PZPR - the Peasant and Democratic Parties - supported Solidarity and on August 24, 1989, they elected Tadeusz Mazowiecki, leader of the Catholic Solidarity faction, as head of government.

However, the Solidarity faction, led by Lech Walesa, demanded the acceleration of political reforms; in July 1990, Mazowiecki removed all former communists from the government, and Jaruzelski resigned in October. A split was brewing within Solidarity. Walesa continued to criticize Mazowiecki, accusing his government of slowness and lack of determination to carry out the decommunization of Poland. As a result, Solidarity broke up into a number of political parties: the Democratic Union led by Mazowiecki, the Liberal Democratic Congress led by Jan Bielecki, the Central Union led by the brothers Lech and Jarosław Kaczynski, the Union of Labor led by Ryszard Bugai and the Christian National Association led by with Wiesław Chrzanowski. In the first round of the December 1989 presidential election, Walesa received the majority of votes; he was followed by Stanislav Tyminski, an independent candidate - a "dark horse". The third was Mazowiecki. In the second round, Walesa was elected president.

After 1989, the Sejm adopted a number of important laws, which were supported by the Catholic Church. These included a law on compulsory religious instruction in public schools; abortion law; a law on respect for "Christian values" by the media. Parliamentary elections held in October 1991 ended with the formation of a politically fragmented Sejm. A succession of unstable coalition governments followed.

The discontent of the population and the political struggle between the parties within the "Solidarity" led to the revenge of the left in the parliamentary elections in September 1993. The "Solidarity" parties got a third of the votes, but they failed to achieve representation in parliament, since each of them could not gain the necessary parliament 5% of the vote. In these elections, the heirs of the PZPR, the Union of Democratic Left Forces, came out on top with 173 seats. The Polish Peasants' Party won 128 seats, the Democratic Union - 69 seats, the Labor Union - 42 seats; the right-wing nationalist and clerical parties did not win a single seat. A leftist coalition government was formed.

In the first round of the presidential elections held in November 1995, Aleksander Kwasniewski, candidate of the Union of Democratic Left Forces, was ahead in the number of votes; Solidarity leader Walesa took second place. The second round was won by Kwasniewski.

After the defeat in the 1993 parliamentary elections, the political forces of Solidarity united. Voter sympathies changed, and the Solidarity electoral bloc won 201 out of 460 seats in the 1997 parliamentary elections. It was followed by the Union of Democratic Left Forces with 164 seats. The Freedom Union won 60 seats, the Polish Peasants' Party, a coalition partner of the Union of Democratic Left in 1993-1997, only 27, and the Movement for the Rebirth of Poland, another party that left Solidarity, 6 seats.

Decommunization

In December 1995, the most conflicting problems after 1989 in Poland escalated. The Sejm discussed the law on lustration, which required clarification of possible connections with the secret police of applicants for public office. In December 1995, Prime Minister Józef Oleksa (Union of Democratic Left) was accused by Interior Minister Andrzej Milchanowski of having worked for years for Soviet and then Russian intelligence. Under public pressure Oleksa resigned in January 1996 and was replaced by Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz. Oleksa's case was the impetus for resolving the issue of lustration. In August 1997, Parliament passed the relevant law, but failed to enact it. In October 1998, President A. Kwasniewski signed the law on lustration. In accordance with it, all senior officials, members of parliament and judges had to report whether they had previously cooperated with security agencies. The perpetrators of such cooperation were not forced to cease political activity, but their confessions were to be made public. The same persons who hid the truth about their involvement in the security agencies, if it was discovered, were prohibited from holding high government positions for 10 years.

The Polish government supported the NATO military action against Yugoslavia in 1999, although public opinion polls showed a reserved attitude towards this action, and church hierarchs condemned it. The country was preparing to join the EU, and both positive (GDP growth, curbing inflation) and negative (increasing trade deficit, rising unemployment) consequences of this step were predicted. President Kwasniewski stressed the need to strengthen economic ties with Russia and other Eastern European countries.

The development of feudal relations. In U.1-XII centuries. significant progress was observed in agriculture in the Polish lands. Three fields spread everywhere. The area of ​​cultivated land increased due to internal colonization. The peasants, leaving the feudal oppression, developed new lands, on which, however, they soon fell into the former feudal dependence.

In the XI century. In Poland, feudal relations were already firmly established everywhere. Large-scale secular and ecclesiastical landownership grew as a result of the seizure by feudal lords of the lands of personally free communal peasants and through the distribution of princely lands. The middle feudal lords became in the XII century. from conditional holders of estates to votchinniki - hereditary feudal owners.

The growth of large landed property of the feudal lords led to a sharp reduction in the number of free communal peasants. The number of ascribed peasants in the XII-XIII centuries. grew rapidly. The main form of rent in the XI-XIII centuries. was a rent in kind. The household of a dependent peasant was taxed in kind. The peasants had to bear numerous duties in favor of the prince. In an effort to increase income, the feudal lords increased the amount of peasant duties, which met with fierce resistance from the peasants. Feudal immunity expanded. Immunity letters freed the magnates from bearing all or part of the duties in favor of the prince and transferred judicial rights over the population into the hands of the feudal lords. Only important criminal offenses were subject to the jurisdiction of the princely court.

Growth of cities. In the XII-XIII centuries. in Poland, cities developed rapidly, which were already significant centers of crafts and trade at that time. The population of cities increased due to runaway peasants. The urban craft developed. Techniques were improved in the pottery, jewelry, woodworking, foundry and metalworking industries of handicraft production. On the basis of the growth of specialization, new branches of handicraft arose. Especially great success in the XIII century. in Poland reached the production of females. Internal trade grew, exchange between cities and rural districts, between regions of the country as a whole increased. The circulation of money developed. In foreign trade, ties with Russia, the Czech Republic, and Germany played an important role. A significant place was occupied by transit trade through Krakow and Wroclaw. Polish cities in the XI-XII centuries. were dependent on the prince and paid him feudal rent and trade duties (myto). In the XIII century. many Polish cities received city law on the model of German law (adapted to Polish conditions). Princes, secular and spiritual feudal lords, in an effort to increase their income, began to establish cities on their lands, granting city rights and significant trading privileges to their population.

German colonization and its significance. In order to increase their income, the feudal lords patronized the broad peasant colonization of the country. Peasant settlers were given significant benefits. From the 12th century princes and feudal lords began to encourage German rural and urban colonization, which at the turn of the XII-XIII centuries. was especially significant in Silesia and Pomerania. To a lesser extent, it spread in "Greater and Lesser Poland." German peasant settlers enjoyed special "German law" in Poland.

The landowners began to translate into "German law" and Polish peasants. At the same time, a uniform regulated chinsh was introduced in money and in kind. The tithe was also regulated in favor of the church. New forms of feudal exploitation, especially monetary rent, contributed to the rise of productive forces and the growth of cities. German colonization in the cities led to the fact that in a number of large centers of Silesia, Greater and Lesser Poland, the top of the urban population - the patriciate - became predominantly German.

The disintegration of Poland into destinies. Based on an alliance with Kievan Rus, Casimir I (1034-1058) began the struggle for the reunification of the Polish lands. He managed to subjugate Mazovia and return Silesia. Bolesław II the Bold (1058-1079) strove to continue the policy of Casimir. The foreign policy of Boleslaw II was aimed at achieving the independence of Poland from the German Empire. In 1076 he was proclaimed king of Poland. But Boleslav II could not suppress the speeches of the increased secular and spiritual nobility, which was supported by the Czech Republic and the German Empire, not interested in maintaining a strong central power. He was forced to flee to Hungary, where he died. Under the successor of Boleslaw II, Vladislav I German (1079-1102), Poland began to disintegrate into destinies, entering a period of feudal fragmentation. True, at the beginning of the XII century. Boleslaw III Krivoustom managed to temporarily restore the political unity of Poland, which was also due to the threat of enslavement hanging over the country from the German Empire.

The appanage system received legal formalization in the so-called statute of Boleslav III (1138), according to which Poland was divided into appanages among his sons. The statute was established. the principle of the seigniorate: the eldest in the family received supreme power - with the title of Grand Duke. The capital was Krakow.

Feudal fragmentation was a natural phenomenon in the development of Poland. And at this time, the productive forces continued to develop in agriculture and in urban crafts. Economic ties between individual Polish lands grew and strengthened. The Polish people remembered the unity of their land, their ethnic and cultural community.

The period of feudal disunity brought severe trials for the Poles. Politically fragmented Poland was unable to repulse the aggression of the German feudal lords and the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars.

Poland's struggle against German feudal aggression in the XII-XIII centuries. Mongol-Tatar invasion. The strife over the throne between the sons of Bolesław III coincided with the intensification of the aggression of the German feudal lords into the lands of the Polabian-Baltic Slavs and led to grave political consequences for the Polish people.

In 1157, Margrave Albrecht the Bear captured Branibor, an important strategic point on the Polish frontier. In the 70s. 12th century the political subordination of the Polabian-Baltic Slavs by the German feudal lords was completed. On the occupied territory, the aggressive German principality of Brandenburg was formed, which launched an offensive against the Polish lands. In 1181, Western Pomerania was forced to recognize vassal dependence on the German Empire.

The international position of the Polish lands deteriorated sharply after the appearance of the Teutonic Order in the Baltic States, which - in 1226 was invited to Poland by the Mazovian prince Konrad to fight the Prussians. The Teutonic Order, destroying the Prussians with fire and sword, founded a strong state on their land, which was under the auspices of the papal throne and the German Empire. In 1237, the Teutonic Order merged with the Order of the Sword, which seized lands in the Eastern Baltic. The strengthening of the Teutonic Order and Brandenburg, whose possessions covered Polish lands from two sides, posed a great danger to Poland.

The situation became even worse as a result of the invasion of Poland by the Mongol-Tatars. A significant part of the territory of Poland was devastated and plundered (1241). In the battle of Lignetsa, the Mongol-Tatars utterly defeated the troops of the Silesian-Polish feudal lords. Mongol-Tatar invasions in 1259 and 1287 were accompanied by the same terrible devastation of the Polish lands.

Taking advantage of the weakening of Poland due to the raids of the Mongol-Tatars and the growth of feudal fragmentation, the German feudal lords intensified their offensive against the Polish lands.

Establishment of the state unity of Poland. The development of productive forces in agriculture and handicrafts, the strengthening of economic ties between individual regions of the country, the growth of cities gradually created economic prerequisites for the unification of Polish lands into a single state. The process of reunification of the Polish lands was significantly accelerated by an external danger - the aggression of the Teutonic Order. The unification of the country was supported by the vast majority of Polish society. The creation of a strong central government capable of limiting the arbitrariness of large feudal lords and organizing the defense of the Polish borders was in the interests of the Polish people.

At the end of the XIII century. the leading role in the struggle for the unification of the country belonged to the Greater Poland princes. In 1295, Przemysław II gradually extended his power to the whole of Poland and annexed Eastern Pomerania to his possessions. He was crowned with the Polish crown, but he had to cede Krakow inheritance to the Czech king Wenceslas II. In 1296 Przemysław was killed. The struggle for the unification of the Polish lands was continued by the Brest-Kuyavian prince Vladislav Loketok, who opposed Wenceslas II of Czech, who managed to subjugate both Lesser and Greater Poland to his power. After the death of Wenceslas II (1305) and his son Wenceslas III (1309), Loketok took possession of Krakow and Greater Poland. But East Pomerania was captured by the Teutonic Order (1309). In 1320 Vladislav Loketok was crowned in Krakow with the crown of the Polish kings.

Foreign policy of Casimir III. Capture of Galician Rus. The struggle for the unification of the Polish lands in the middle of the XIV century, under King Casimir III (1333-1370), ran into stubborn resistance from the Teutonic Order and the Luxembourg dynasty. In 1335, with the mediation of Hungary in Visegrad, an agreement was concluded with the Luxemburgs, according to which they renounced their claims to the Polish throne, but retained Silesia. In 1343 the order was forced to make some territorial concessions to Poland. However, Eastern Pomerania was not reunited with the Kingdom of Poland. In 1349-1352. Polish feudal lords managed to capture Galician Rus, and in 1366 - part of Volhynia.

Socio-economic development of Poland in the XIV century. The political unification of the country contributed to the economic development of the Polish lands. In the XIV century. peasants continued to intensively populate forest areas and clear new land areas, hoping to free themselves from feudal exploitation. However, even in new places, the peasants-new settlers fell into feudal dependence on large landowners. In the XIV century. the category of personally free peasants almost completely disappeared. The feudal lords transferred the peasants to a uniform dues - chinsh, paid in kind and money, which contributed to an increase in the productivity of the peasants and the intensification of their economy. The incomes of the feudal lords grew. In some places, along with chinsha, corvée was also practiced on a small scale.

From the end of the XIV century. in connection with the development of commodity-money relations, property differentiation among zavizos increased

Poland in the XIV-XV centuries.

these peasants-kmets. Some of the Kmets turned into landless peasants - suburbanites who had only a small plot of land, a house and a garden. The intensifying feudal exploitation evoked energetic resistance from the peasantry, which was expressed primarily in the escape.

In the XIV century. urban crafts developed in Poland. Silesia (especially the city of Wroclaw) was famous for its weavers. Krakow was a major center for the production of cloth. The guild organizations that had appeared in the previous period became considerably stronger. Polish cities were the scene of fierce social and national struggle.

In the XIV century. internal trade successfully developed, the exchange of goods between the city and the countryside increased. Fairs were of great importance for strengthening ties between the Polish lands. Poland's foreign trade expanded significantly, and consumer goods occupied a considerable place in it. An important role was played by transit trade with the countries of Eastern and Western Europe. Of particular importance in the XIV century. acquired trade with the Genoese colonies on the Black Sea coast, primarily with Kafa (Feodosia). Coastal cities took an active part in the trade on the Baltic Sea.

The growth of the economy contributed to the development of Polish culture. In the XIII-XIV centuries. there were urban schools with teaching in their native language. Of great importance was the opening in 1364 of a university in Krakow, which became the second major scientific center in Central Europe.

The incompleteness of the process of unification of Polish lands. State association of Polish lands in the XIV century. was incomplete: a sufficiently strong central government did not develop; Mazovia Silesia and Pomerania were not yet included in the Polish state (Mazovia, however, recognized the supremacy of the Polish king). Separate Polish lands (voivodeships) retained their autonomy, local governments were in the hands of large feudal lords. The political and economic dominance of the canowners was not undermined. The incompleteness of the process of unification of the Polish lands and the relative weakness of the central royal power had deep internal causes. By the XIV century. In Poland, the preconditions for the creation of a centralized state were not yet ripe. The process of forming a single all-Polish market was just beginning. The centralization of the Polish state was hindered by the position of the Polish mayowners and the influential patriciate of the cities. The German patriciate of the largest Polish cities, connected mainly with international transit trade, opposed centralization. Therefore, Polish cities did not play a significant role in the unification of the country, unlike the cities of Russia and a number of Western European countries. The struggle for the unification of the Polish lands was also hampered by the eastern policy of the Polish feudal lords, who sought to subdue the Ukrainian lands. This scattered the forces of Poland and weakened her in the face of German aggression. The unification of Polish lands, the development of the economy and culture of the Polish state in the XIV century. demanded reform of legislation and codification of feudal law. However, there was no uniform legislation for the whole country. In 1347, separate codes of laws were developed for Lesser Poland - the Statute of Wislicky and for Greater Poland - Petrokovsky. These statutes, based on customary law that previously existed in Poland, reflected the political and socio-economic changes that had taken place in the country (primarily the intensification of the process of enslaving peasants and the transition to a new form of feudal rent - chinshu). The condition of the peasants worsened considerably. Wislitsky and Petrokovsky statutes limited the right of the peasant transition.

Economic development of Poland in the XV century. In the XIV-XV centuries. significant development has reached handicraft production. An indicator of the growth of productive forces was the widespread use of the energy of falling water. The water wheel has found application not only in mills, but also in handicraft production. In the XV century. in Poland, the production of linen and cloth, metal products, and foodstuffs increased; The mining industry achieved significant success, and salt was mined. The urban population grew. In the cities, the struggle between the German patriciate and the bulk of the Polish townspeople intensified, the process of Polonization of the German population was underway, and the Polish merchant class was developing.

The growth of productive forces also took place in agriculture. The plow cultivation of the land improved, and the internal peasant colonization of the country expanded. The total area under crops in the XIV-XV centuries. increased rapidly. In the XV century. along with rent in kind, monetary rent was greatly developed, which contributed to the growth of the productivity of peasant labor. From the second half of the XV century. labor rent began to grow rapidly - corvee, mainly on the estates of church feudal lords.

The development of monetary rent favored an increase in exchange between town and country and the growth of the home market. The farms of the peasant and the feudal lord were more closely connected with the city market.

At the same time, foreign trade developed. For Poland, especially until the middle of the 15th century, transit trade between Western Europe and the East was of great importance, in which Polish cities located on the important trade route Wroclaw - Krakow - Lviv - Black Sea actively participated. From the second half of the XV century. the importance of trade across the Baltic Sea increased sharply. An important role was played by the export of Polish ship timber to the West. Poland was actively involved in the common European market.

The growth of gentry privileges. The economic growth of cities did not lead, however, to a change in the alignment of class and political forces in Poland at the end of the 14th-15th centuries. Politically and economically, the most influential part of the urban population was the patriciate, who profited from the transit trade and had little interest in the development of the Polish economy proper. He easily established contact with the feudal lords - opponents of the strengthening of central power.

After the death of King Casimir III (1370), the political influence of the magnates sharply increased in Poland. The magnates and the gentry achieved a privilege in Kosice (1374), which freed the feudal lords from all duties, except for military service and a small tax of 2 pennies from a given land. This laid the foundation for the legal registration of the estate privileges of the Polish feudal lords and the restriction of royal power. The political dominance of the magnates aroused the discontent of the gentry. However, opposing the magnates, the gentry did not seek to strengthen royal power, believing that the growing estate organization was a reliable tool for suppressing the class resistance of the peasants. The growth of the political activity of the gentry was facilitated by the emergence of sejmiks - meetings of the gentry of individual voivodships to resolve local affairs. At the beginning of the XV century. sejmiks arose in Greater Poland, in the second half of the 15th century. - and in Lesser Poland.

At the end of the XV century. General diets of the whole kingdom began to be convened in the composition of two chambers - the Senate and the embassy's hut. The Senate consisted of magnates and dignitaries, the embassy's hut consisted of noblemen - representatives (ambassadors) of local sejmiks. In Poland, a class monarchy began to take shape, which had a pronounced gentry character.

To achieve their political goals, the gentry created temporary unions - confederations, which were sometimes joined by cities and the clergy. At first, these unions had an anti-magnate orientation, but usually they served as an instrument of struggle for gentry privileges.

The gentry was the main pillar of royal power, but its support was bought at the cost of ever new concessions from the monarchy. In 1454, Casimir IV Jagiellonian, in order to enlist the support of the gentry in the war with the order, was forced to issue the Neshav Statutes, which limited royal power. Without the consent of the gentry, the king had no right to issue new laws and start a war. To the detriment of the interests of the monarchy and cities, the gentry was allowed to create their own zemstvo courts. The statutes of 1454 were an important stage in the development of the Polish estate monarchy. A feature of this process in Poland was the actual elimination of cities from participating in representative bodies of power.

Polish-Lithuanian Union. The struggle against the Teutonic Order encouraged the Polish magnates to strive for unification with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was also attacked by the Order. In 1385, the Polish-Lithuanian union was concluded in Kreva. The Polish magnates sought the inclusion of Lithuania in the Polish state and the introduction of Catholicism in it. Queen Jadwiga in 1386 married the Lithuanian prince Jagiello, who became the Polish king under the name of Vladislav II (1386-1434). The union of the two powers was not only a means of defense against German aggression, but also opened up for the Polish feudal lords the possibility of exploiting the rich Ukrainian lands previously occupied by Lithuania. An attempt to fully include Lithuania in Poland met with resistance from the feudal lords of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The masses resisted the introduction of Catholicism. At the head of the opposition was Jogaila's cousin Vitovt. The union was dissolved. But in 1401 it was restored while maintaining the state independence of Lithuania.

Battle of Grunwald. In 1409, the "Great War" broke out with the Teutonic Order. The general battle took place on July 15, 1410 near Grunwald, where the color of the order troops was utterly defeated and destroyed. Despite this victory, the Polish-Lithuanian side did not achieve major results. Nevertheless, the historical significance of the Battle of Grunwald was great. She stopped the aggression of the German feudal lords against Poland, Lithuania and Russia, undermined the power of the Teutonic Order. With the decline of the order, the forces of German feudal aggression in Central Europe also weakened, which made it easier for the Polish people to fight for their national independence. The victory at Grunwald contributed to the growth of the international significance of the Polish state.

The return of the Gdansk coast. After the election to the Polish throne of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV Jagiellonchik (1447-1492), the Polish-Lithuanian personal union was restored. During his reign, a new war between Poland and the Teutonic Order began, which lasted 13 years and ended with the victory of Poland. According to the Peace of Torun in 1466, Poland regained Eastern Pomerania with Chelminsk land and Gdansk and part of Prussia, and access to the Baltic Sea was again obtained. The Teutonic Order recognized itself as a vassal of Poland.

In the west - with Germany. In the north, Poland has access to the Baltic Sea.

The population is about 38.6 million people. The most densely populated southern part of the country, the fewest inhabitants - in the northwestern and northeastern parts. In addition to the Poles, who constitute the ethnic majority, Kashubians, Germans (1.3%), Ukrainians (0.6%), Belarusians (0.5%), Slovaks, Czechs, Lithuanians, Gypsies, Jews live in Poland.

The official language is Polish.

Poland is currently a republic. The state is headed by a president.

The capital is Warsaw.

Brief outline of history

Probably, the Slavs were the first peoples who settled in the territory now occupied by the Poles. This is evidenced by the data of archaeological cultures found in these lands. Archaeological evidence also indicates that the Slavs until the 8th century had practically no social and cultural contacts with other peoples. This explains why the first reliable information about the Western Slavs, in particular about the ancestors of the Poles, dates back to the 8th century. At this time, the Vikings begin to penetrate their territory, to protect against which the Slavs create small state associations. West Slavic tribes that later formed the Polish nationality ( Polans, Wislans, Lubushans, Slenzans (Silesians), Polons, Dzyadoshans, Lendzitsi, Mazovshans and others), occupied the territory from the Lower Elbe and the Oder in the west to the middle reaches of the Narva, the Western Bug, the Veps and the San (the right tributaries of the Vistula) in the east. In the south, the territories of the Polish tribes extended to the sources of the Oder, Danube, Wisłoka and Vistula, and in the north to the Baltic Sea. In general, this territory corresponds to the modern borders of Poland. One of the most active tribes - the Polans, who settled along the rivers of the Warta and the lower Oder and created their own state - the Poles owe their ethnic name.

For the first time, the name of the glade appears at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th century in one of the Latin hagiographies, where the Polish prince Boleslav the Brave (992 - 1025) called dux Palanorum, that is, "leader of the glades." Ancient chronicles report that around the year 840 the first Polish state was formed by the legendary Piast king, but this is the only evidence that is not confirmed by any other documents. The first historically reliable ruler of Poland was the father of Bolesław the Brave - Mieszko I of the Piast dynasty (960–992), who in 966 entered into a dynastic marriage with the Czech princess Dubravka and converted to Christianity. Accepts Christianity according to the Roman Catholic model and the Polish nobility, and then, for some time, and the entire Polish people. From the beginning of the 11th century, like many medieval rulers, Mieszko I, and then Boleslav the Brave, pursued a policy of expansion, trying to expand the boundaries of the state in all directions. Poland is trying to extend its power both in Bohemia and in Germany, but the northeast and east are becoming the main direction of the increase in territories. Silesia and Pomerania joined Greater Poland in 988, Moravia joined in 990, and in the first quarter of the 11th century, Poland's power was established in the territory from the Odra and Nysa to the Dnieper and from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathians. In 1025, Bolesław took the title of king, but after his death, the intensified feudal nobility opposed the central government, which led to the separation of Mazovia and Pomerania from Poland.

From the 30s of the 12th century, the weakening of the Polish state began, which entered a period of feudal fragmentation, and in the second half of the 12th century Poland fell apart, a number of western and northwestern regions came under the rule of the German state.

In the middle of the XIII century, the eastern territories of Poland were devastated by the Tatar-Mongols, the northern territories suffered from the raids of the Lithuanians and Prussians. To protect the country, the prince of Mazovia Konrad in 1226 invited the Teutonic knights to the country, who very quickly took a privileged position in the state, conquered the territory of East Prussia. In the urban environment, the German language has become widespread, and in the west (near the middle Odra) and southwest (in Silesia) the process of complete Germanization of the Polish population is taking place. At the beginning of the 14th century, a new state created by German colonists cut off Poland's access to the Baltic Sea.

The reunification of most of Poland under the rule of one king takes place at the beginning of the 14th century. In 1320 he was crowned on the throne Vladislav Lokotek from Kuyavia, and from that time begins a national revival, which reaches its greatest success during the reign of his son, Casimir III the Great(1333-1370). One of the most significant steps in the development of Polish culture was the establishment in 1364 of the University of Krakow, one of the oldest universities in Europe. This activated Polish scientific thought, contributed to the development of the exact, natural and human sciences.

After the death of Louis I the Great (Louis of Hungary, 1370-1382), his youngest daughter Jadwiga becomes queen, who married the great Prince of Lithuania Jagello (Jogaila, or Jagiello). Jagiello converted to Christianity under the name Vladislav (Vladislav II, 1386-1434) and converted the Lithuanian people into it, founding the Jagiellonian dynasty, one of the most powerful in Europe. The territories of Poland and Lithuania are united in a strong state union, and after the defeat of the crusaders of the Teutonic Order in the Battle of Grunwald (1410) (1), this union is gaining strength very quickly. In the second half of the 15th century, Pomerania and Gdansk were returned to Poland.

Battle of Grunwald. 16th century engraving

The golden age of Polish culture and statehood is the 16th century. Poland, continuing the policy of expansion and gradually moving to the northeast and east, becomes one of the largest states in Europe. Poland captures the Baltic Pomerania, Livonia, Warmia, vast areas and Lithuania.

Royal power in Poland has never been strong. Already in the 11th century, a powerful layer of local nobility formed here, which chose the king, a tradition that lasted until the 18th century. The ruler was largely dependent on his environment and, in fact, could become a puppet in his hands. In 1505 king alexander adopts a constitution, according to which the parliament, consisting of two chambers: the Sejm and the Senate (2), receives equal rights with the monarch in resolving issues relating to the nobility. In 1569, the Union of Lublin was adopted, according to which Lithuania and Poland were united into a single state - the Commonwealth (3). In the Commonwealth there is one parliament (Seim) and one laws, one king is elected by the aristocracy. The power of the petty nobility is being strengthened, while the royal power, on the contrary, is weakening even more. Heinrich of Valois (1573-1574, later to become Henry III of France), elected king of the Commonwealth after the death of Sigismund II, had to be completely subordinate to the Sejm in his decisions. Without the recommendation of parliament, he could not marry, declare war, increase taxes, elect an heir to the throne; in addition, he was obliged to fulfill all the articles of parliament. During his reign, the Commonwealth from a state with a limited monarchy became an aristocratic parliamentary republic.

If under Sigismund II, Henry of Valois and Stefan Batory in the Commonwealth religious tolerance dominated, and Poland at some stage becomes one of the centers of the Reformation, then under Sigismund III Vasa(1587-1632), a zealous supporter of Catholicism, the situation is changing. In 1596, in order to spread Catholicism among the Orthodox population, the Union of Brest established the Uniate Church, which, recognizing the primacy of the Pope, continued to use Orthodox rituals.

The greatness of the Commonwealth is replaced by the weakening of the state, which was weakened by the wars with and Turkey, the uprising against Poland of the Ukrainian Cossacks, the military actions of the Swedes, who occupied most of Poland, including Warsaw, in the second half of the 17th century. As a result of unsuccessful wars with Poland, under the Andrusovo truce (1667), Kyiv and all areas east of the Dnieper were lost. The collapse is also influenced by the position in the Sejm. Since 1652, there has been a provision (liberum veto) in it, according to which any deputy could block a decision he did not like, demand the dissolution of the Sejm and put forward any demands that should have been considered by the new government. This policy is also used by the neighboring powers, which repeatedly frustrate the implementation of decisions of the Diet that are objectionable to them. In the 17th - 18th centuries, Poland concluded a number of peace treaties with, pursuing the goal of reaching the Baltic coast, and sided with the Russians in the Northern War against Sweden. In 1764, the Russian Empress Catherine II sought the election of her favorite as the King of Poland. Stanisław August Poniatowski(1764-1795), who turned out to be the last king of Poland. Control over Poland became obvious.

In 1772 Prussia and Austria carried out first partition of Poland, which was ratified by the Sejm in 1773. Poland ceded to Austria part of Pomerania and Kuyavia (excluding Gdansk and Torun); Prussia - Galicia, Western Podolia and part of Lesser Poland; Eastern Belorussia and all the lands north of the Western Dvina and east of the Dnieper withdrew. Poland established a new constitution that retained an elective monarchy and created a State Council of 36 elected members of the Sejm. The division of the country awakened a social movement for reform and national revival. In 1791, the Four-Year Sejm, headed by Stanisław Malachowski, Ignacy Potocki and Hugo Kollontai, adopted a new constitution, according to which a hereditary monarchy was established in Poland, the principle of liberum veto was abolished, cities received administrative and judicial autonomy, measures were taken to prepare for the abolition of serfdom and the organization regular army. This constitution was opposed by the magnates, who formed the Targowice Confederation, at the call of which Prussian troops entered Poland.

At the beginning of 1793, Prussia carried out second partition of Poland, according to which Gdansk, Torun, Greater Poland and Mazovia went to Prussia, and to Russia - most of Lithuania and almost all of Volhynia and Podolia. The reforms of the Four-Year Sejm were canceled and the rest of Poland became a puppet state. In 1794, Tadeusz Kosciuszko led a popular uprising that ended in defeat. Third Partition of Poland, in which Austria participated, was produced in October 1795. Poland as an independent state disappeared from the map of Europe.

The hope for the revival of the state appeared among the Poles after the creation by Napoleon I on the territories captured by Prussia during the second and third partitions of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (1807 - 1815). The principality was politically dependent on France. After the defeat of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna (1815) approved the partitions of Poland. At the same time, Krakow was declared a free city-republic under the auspices of the three powers that divided Poland (1815-1848); the western part of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw was transferred to Prussia and became known as the Grand Duchy of Poznań (1815–1846); its other part was declared a monarchy (the so-called Kingdom of Poland) and attached to. The uprisings of 1830, 1846, 1848, 1863 were unsuccessful. Emperor Nicholas I canceled the Polish constitution, and the Poles - participants in the uprisings were repressed.

The First World War led to the restoration of Poland as an independent state with access to the Baltic Sea. Austria-Hungary collapsed, and internal political changes took place in Germany, which now did not allow control of Poland. On January 26, 1919, elections were held for the Sejm, the new composition of which approved Jozef Pilsudski head of state. By March 1923, as a result of fierce disputes with the Czech Republic, as well as military operations directed against Lithuania and Poland, the new borders of Poland were finally established. In the newly created state, a constitution was adopted that affirmed a republican system, a bicameral parliament (Seim and Senate) was established, and the equality of citizens before the law was proclaimed. However, this public education proved unsustainable. On May 12, 1926, Jozef Pilsudski carried out a military coup and established a "sanation" reactionary regime in the country, which allowed him to completely control the country. This regime was maintained in Poland until the outbreak of World War II.

Even before it began, the fate of Poland was a foregone conclusion: Germany and the USSR claimed its territory, which signed a non-aggression pact on August 23, 1939, providing for the division of Poland between them; even earlier, Franco-Anglo-Soviet negotiations took place in Moscow, during which the Soviet Union demanded the right to occupy the eastern part of the country. On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland from the west, and on September 17, the USSR attacked from the east. Very soon the country was completely occupied. The Polish government with the remnants of the armed forces fled to Romania. The government-in-exile was headed by General Vladislav Sikorsky.

During World War II, perhaps the largest number of concentration camps were located on the territory of Poland, in which there were not only prisoners of war, but also Polish Jews. In the occupied territory, the Home Army provided strong military resistance to the German troops.

At the Yalta Conference (February 4-11, 1945), Churchill (Great Britain) and Roosevelt (USA) gave official consent to the inclusion of the eastern part of Poland into the USSR. In August 1945, at the Potsdam Conference, it was decided to transfer to Poland the southern part of East Prussia and German territory east of the Oder and Neisse rivers.

Since in fact the territory of Poland was under the control of the USSR, the power of the Communist Party was very quickly established in the country. In 1947, the Sejm elected the communist Bolesław Bierut as president of Poland. The process of Stalinization of the state begins, which is associated with repressions directed against objectionable political and religious figures. In accordance with the new Polish constitution, adopted on July 22, 1952, the post of president was abolished. The state was headed by the prime minister. Initially, this post was occupied by the same B. Bierut, and since 1954 - Józef Cyrankiewicz.

The events that followed in the USSR after the exposure of the personality cult of I.V. Stalin at the 20th Congress of the CPSU by N.S. Khrushchev had an impact on the political and economic life of Poland. Vladislav Gomulka becomes the political leader, who achieves a certain independence from the USSR. However, his reforms were soon reversed.

By the mid-1970s, an economic crisis began, which was accompanied by massive popular unrest. The workers create strike committees that put forward not only economic but also political demands, leave the old state trade unions and join the independent federation of trade unions "Solidarity" created by the strikers, which was headed by Lech Walesa. Workers' strikes and unrest continued until 1981, when, in response to Solidarity's demand for a referendum on the leadership role of the Communist Party and relations between Poland and the Soviet Union, the head of state Wojciech Jaruzelski introduces martial law in the country (December 13, 1981). The leaders of Solidarity were arrested, and the strikes that had begun were suppressed. The economic downturn continues until 1983, and then industrial and agricultural production in the country begins to recover.

A new rise in the political activity of the people falls on the end of the 80s - the beginning of the 90s of the twentieth century. The union of trade unions "Solidarity" is being legalized. In December 1989, the institution of presidential power was restored in Poland. As a result of the elections, Lech Walesa becomes the President of Poland.

The end of the 20th - the beginning of the 21st centuries for Poland, as well as for other Slavic states, is becoming a very difficult period, both politically and economically. The process of decommunization is accompanied by a change in political priorities, liberation from the influence of Russia, strengthening of economic ties with the countries of Eastern and Western Europe, and orientation towards the policies of the United States and NATO countries.

A Brief Outline of Culture

On the territory of Poland, archaeologists find ceramic vessels with "ribbon" and "string" ornaments dating back to the Neolithic; fortified settlements (Biskupin, about 550-400 BC); clay and bronze vessels belonging to the Lusatian culture, the remains of Slavic settlements with wooden and earthen fortifications (Gdansk, Gniezno, Wroclaw, etc.). However, one can speak about the beginning of the formation of Polish culture proper from the time of the emergence of the Polish state, which, apparently, falls on the second half of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century. The activation of external contacts leads to the realization by the rulers of the need to change paganism to one of the influential religions at that time. The Christianization of the country could not completely destroy the former beliefs of the Poles, but still had a much greater impact on their culture than on the culture of the Eastern Slavs.

In Poland, the Roman-Latin cultural tradition spreads, but the cults of Saints Cyril and Methodius, as well as their successor Gorazd, also penetrate here through the Czech lands. The first national cult is the cult of St. Wojciech, a Czech priest, a supporter of the coexistence of the Latin and Church Slavonic liturgies among the Slavs, who was killed by pagan Prussians around 997.

Together with the adoption of Christianity (966), the construction of stone religious buildings began in Poland (the earliest of them is the rotunda chapel of the Virgin Mary on the Wawel in Krakow - the second half of the 10th century), in which the Romanesque that dominated at that time in Western Europe is very clearly seen. style. The churches built in the 10th-13th centuries are distinguished by their severe majesty. They represent a three-nave basilica, traditional for the Roman tradition, with monumental towers and perspective portals covered with carved ornaments (the Church of St. Andrew in Krakow, the Church in Tum, the Church of Mary Magdalene in Wroclaw). The capitals of the internave pillars of the interior in Romanesque buildings are decorated with rich carvings. Builders usually use braid, floral patterns, images of saints, fantastic animals and birds. A few Romanesque crypts (4) have survived in Poland (the crypt of St. Leonard in the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, circa 1100) that did not take root in ancient Polish architecture. Unlike East Slavic architecture, in the decoration of Polish Christian cathedrals of the 10th-13th centuries one can occasionally see sculptures that are characterized by a soft generalization of forms (the portal of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Wroclaw with relief images of the Mother of God and donors, the second half of the 12th century). The bronze doors of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Gniezno are a masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture. Cast in bronze in 1175, they are decorated with numerous bas-reliefs - scenes from the life of St. Wojciech.

In the 14th-15th centuries, the Romanesque style was replaced by the gothic style, directed to the sky. In the buildings of this time, the architectural forms found in Germany, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands are refracted in a peculiar way. In the south of Poland, under the influence of Czech art, three-nave basilica churches made of stone and brick were built (the Cathedral on Wawel and the Church of the Virgin Mary in Krakow, cathedrals in Wroclaw and Poznan); in the north, under the influence of the Dutch school, hall brick churches were erected (the Church of the Virgin Mary in Gdansk), which are distinguished by a strict restraint of appearance; in the east of Poland, the influence of ancient Russian art can be traced (murals in the chapel of the castle in Lublin, 1418). The monumental towers of the western facades are usually divided into tiers and topped with tents. However, numerous reconstructions of structures have led to the fact that the architecture of some cathedrals combines different styles. So the northern tower of the Church of the Virgin Mary in Krakow is crowned with a high Gothic spire, growing out of a gilded crown, the southern tower is crowned with a low Renaissance helmet. The Gothic architecture of Poland is not limited to places of worship. Wars with the Teutonic Order stimulated fortification, and thanks to the development of cities, secular architecture also flourished (city fortifications in Krakow and Warsaw, the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, the town hall in Torun).

The folk craft is also getting new development. The Franciscan monks brought from Italy the custom of building on Christmas Eve from paper, cardboard and wood shopkas - models of the Bethlehem barn, where Christ was born. Against the background of the rock, a manger with a figurine of a newborn is placed, next to it are the figures of the Mother of God, St. Joseph, shepherds and three kings who came to worship Jesus. Each master tried to embody the traditional plot in his own way, later other characters began to be included in it, and shops with a secular plot also became widespread. The new art form became very popular in Poland and has survived to this day.

The reign of Sigismund I (1506-1548) and Sigismund II (1548-1572) is called the "Golden Age of Poland". The country at this time reaches its greatest power, and Krakow becomes one of the largest European centers of the humanities, architecture and Renaissance art. The strong Italian influence, being refracted, receives a new life in Poland, develops here in a new way. The main center for the formation of a new Renaissance culture was the royal court and the houses of the local nobility; new humanistic ideas partially penetrate the culture of the middle gentry, the petty gentry and the peasantry remain the bearers of the old cultural traditions. In art, the ideas of humanism with a strong realistic beginning are more and more clearly traced. Latin is gradually but rather slowly replaced by the Polish language, as a result of which the Polish literary language begins to develop. Many scientific discoveries are being made. In particular, in 1543 Nicholas Copernicus publishes a treatise "On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres", in which the foundations of the heliocentric theory were laid, which had a significant impact on the development of some natural and human sciences. Jan Długosz writes "History of Poland". In twelve books in Latin, the author, based on ancient legends, as well as materials from state and church archives, Polish, Czech and Hungarian chronicles, Russian and Lithuanian chronicles tells about the history of the Poles until 1480. A feature of this scientific treatise is the most thorough analysis of written sources and the assertion in Polish society of a sense of pride in their historical past. Historical science also develops in the works of Maciej from Mechow (“On the Two Sarmatians”, 1517), Martin Kromer (“On the Origin and Deeds of the Poles”, 1555), Maciej Stryjkowski(“Chronicles”, 1582), S. Ilovsky (“On the Possibilities of Historical Science”, 1557). These works force contemporaries to take a fresh look at the history of the Slavs and at historical science in general.

In the 15th-16th centuries, philosophy also received significant development in Poland. Problems of logic are developed by Polish humanists Grzegorz from Sanok, J. Gursky, A. Bursky.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the Baroque style entered the architecture (the Church of St. Peter and Paul and Krakow, 1605 - 1619; the Jesuit Church in Poznań, the Bernardine Church in Krakow - the 18th century). Traditionally for this style, the buildings are richly decorated with molding, elegant wooden sculpture, and altars are richly decorated with carvings. From the end of the 17th to the beginning of the 18th century, the influence of French architecture with a combination of baroque and classicist features (Lazienki in Warsaw) has been affecting the palace and park architecture. In the 19th century, in cities and villages, residential and outbuildings were erected in the style of classicism, splendor and scope are clearly visible in the design of Warsaw squares. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Art Nouveau style came into fashion. It manifests itself not only in architecture, but also in painting and sculpture.

After the formation of the bourgeois Polish state (1918), the development of art proceeded in a contradictory way. The desire to master the latest achievements of European culture, attempts to create a modern national style and the search for new forms of realism coexisted with formal experimentation.

The Poles have made a great contribution to the development of world art, natural sciences and the humanities. Many of them have gained worldwide fame: in music they are Frederic Chopin, Ignacy Paderewski, Karol Szymanowski, Wanda Landowska, Arthur Rubinstein and contemporary composers Krzysztof Penderecki and Witold Lutosławski; in literature - Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Slowacki, Joseph Konrad (Józef Teodor Konrad Kozheniowski), Bolesław Prus, Stanisław Wyspianski, Jan Kasprowicz, Stanisław Lem and Nobel Prize winners Wiesława Szymborska, Czesław Milosz, Władysław Reymont, Henryk Sienkiewicz; in science - astronomer Nikolai Copernicus, logician Jan Lukasiewicz, Alfred Kozhybsky (founder of general semantics), economists Oscar Lange and Mikhail Kalecki, and Nobel Prize winner Maria Sklodowska-Curie. Polish politicians who influenced the course of European history were Bolesław I, Casimir the Great, Władysław Jagiellon, Jan Sobieski, Adam Czartoryski, Józef Piłsudski and Lech Walesa.

Notes:
1. Battle of Grunwald - July 15, 1410, the encirclement and defeat of the troops of the German Teutonic Order by the Polish-Lithuanian-Russian army under the command of the Polish king Vladislav II Jagello (Jagiello) near the villages of Grunwald and Tannenberg. The Battle of Grunwald put a limit to the advancement of the Teutonic Order to the East.
2. In the Sejm, the nobility was represented, in the Senate - the higher clergy and aristocracy.
3. Polish Rzecz Pospolita is a tracing paper of the Latin expression Res Publica, which literally means “common cause”. Over time, the two words merged into one - Rzeczpospolita with the meaning of "republic". This designation is also preserved in the modern name of the state - Rzeczpospolita Polska.
4. Crypt - (from Greek kryptē - covered underground passage, cache). In medieval Western European architecture - a chapel under the temple (usually under the altar), used as a place for honorary burials.

Literature

Dobrowolski T. Nowoczesne malarstwo polskie, t. 1-3 Wr. - Kr., 1957-64.
Walicki M. Malarstwo polskie. Gotyk. Renaissance. Wczesny manieryzm, Warsz., 1961.
Zakhvatovich Ya. Polish architecture, trans. from Polish, Warsaw, 1967.
Ilinich Yu.V. Poland. Economic and geographical characteristics. M., 1966
History of culture of the countries of Western Europe in the Renaissance (Under the editorship of Bragina L.M.). M., 1999.
History of the Southern and Western Slavs, vols. 1–2. M., 1998
Krawczyk R. Disintegration and revival of the Polish economy. M., 1991
Brief history of Poland. From ancient times to the present day. M., 1993
Melnikov G.P. Culture of Poland in the 10th – early 17th centuries. / History of the cultures of the Slavic peoples. In 3 vols. T.1: Antiquity and the Middle Ages. M., 2003. S.362 - 402.
Nefedova T.G., Treyvish A.I. Regions of Russia and other European countries in transition. M., 1994
Essays on the history of the culture of the Slavs. M., 1996
The political landscape of Eastern Europe in the mid-1990s. M., 1997
Polish People's Republic. M., 1984
Poland. Questions and answers. Directory. M., 1991
The Republic of Poland - the experience of "shock therapy". M., 1990
Socio-economic geography of the foreign world. M., 1998

At the beginning of Polish history, just before the adoption of Christianity, we encounter a number of myths that we cannot ignore. These myths reflect, on the one hand, the external struggle, on the other, the internal one. The external struggle is the struggle of the Poles against the Germans, who are pushing the Western Slavs, trying to subjugate them, destroy their nationality, Germanize them. The Poles put up resistance to dangerous neighbors, the mythical Polish princess Wanda refuses the hand of the German. But along with the external struggle, myths indicate an internal struggle: they exhibit two princes - Popel I and Popel II - as persons hostile to the people, hostile to the principles of his life; the agricultural people live under the forms of tribal life; as among all Slavs, so among the Poles, the members of the genus are not divided, but constitute one; the unity of the clan is maintained by the fact that power passes to the eldest in the whole clan, the uncle has an advantage over the nephew. Popel I goes against the prevailing opinion among the people, wants to introduce a foreign German custom; he subordinates to his son, Popel II, his uncle, his younger brothers.

Popel II follows in his father's footsteps: he has no popular virtue, is not distinguished by hospitality, drives away two wanderers from himself, who find hospitality with the villager Piast and prophesy the throne for his son Zemovit. Popel wants to get rid of his uncles with villainy: he calls them to him and poisons them; he does this on the advice of his wife, Nemui. But villainy is punished in a terrible way: from the corpses of uncles, a huge number of mice are born, which devour Popel with the whole family, and the people elect Piast as king. This myth clearly indicates the resistance of the masses, the rural population, to the novelties that were introduced according to the foreign German model by the princes, the leaders of the conquering squads, for the father, Popel I, is exposed as the conqueror. This myth has significance in our eyes also because the phenomena indicated by it are repeated later, in historical times.

Reliable Polish history begins with the adoption of Christianity by Prince Mieczysław. Mechislav married a Christian, the Czech princess Dombrovka, who persuaded her husband to be baptized. The example of the prince worked, Christianity spread everywhere in Poland, but superficially, did not take deep roots, especially in the lower strata of the population. Next to this phenomenon, we see something else: Mechislav is a vassal of the German emperor, and the Germans call him only a count. With the accession to the throne of the son of Mechislav, Boleslav I the Brave, Poland begins to rise strongly: Boleslav, having driven out his brothers, seeks to subjugate Bohemia and Russia; neither one nor the other succeeds, but Boleslav leaves the struggle with rich conquests, acquires Moravia and Silesia from the Czechs, and also conquers Pomerania. The Germans cannot look indifferently that the son of their vassal is striving to become a powerful and dangerous sovereign for them, to establish a Slavic empire near them, and therefore they are working hard against Boleslav, hindering him. designs in Bohemia; Emperor Henry II directly wages war with the King of Poland, but unsuccessfully.

The reign of Bolesław, his brilliant and extensive military activities, conquests had a powerful influence on the internal life of Poland: from the numerous associates, from the vast retinue of the warlike king, a strong upper class was formed, which owns the land, occupies government positions, sits in cities built by the king, controls the regions . The agricultural state, industry and trade are extremely poorly developed; there is no wealthy industrial class to counterbalance the importance of the military or landowning class. Under Boleslav, royal power was strong and held back the nobles thanks to the personal merits of the king; but if kings not like the Brave go, what will hold them back?

And so it happened. The successor of Bolesław the Brave was Mechisław II, who did not at all resemble his father. With a decrease in royal importance, the importance of nobles rises, and then there are new favorable circumstances for them. Mechislav soon dies, leaving his infant son Casimir under the care of his mother, a German Ricksa. Riksa surrounds herself with Germans and despises the Poles; Polish nobles are strong and do not want to endure this contempt, do not want to share with the Germans in the management of their native country. Riksa was expelled with her son to Germany. The nobles seized the supreme power, but, having quarreled, they could not keep it in their hands; there was anarchy and a terrible turmoil: the common people rose up against the gentry, paganism, covered up, but not disappeared, rose up against Christianity, or, better, against the clergy, heavy for the people with their requisitions; the villager sought to get rid of two oppressors who wanted to live on his labor, from the pan and the priest; external enemies took advantage of the turmoil in Poland and rose up against it, began to cut it off. Then the only means of salvation was recognized as the restoration of royal power.

Casimir was called from abroad to the throne of his father and grandfather. Under Casimir the Restorer (Restorer), the unrest subsided, the Czechs were restrained in their hostile plans, Christianity was strengthened. Casimir's successor, Bolesław II the Bold, was similar to Bolesław the Brave and by his military exploits managed to raise the importance of Poland among its neighbors, but could not raise the values ​​of royal power within: the circumstances were not the same as under Bolesław I, the aristocracy was strong, and Bolesław II had more imprudence to face another powerful estate, the clergy, which joined the nobles and further strengthened the latter. Bishop Stanislav of Krakow publicly condemned the behavior of the king, the Bold could not resist in anger and killed the bishop. The result was the expulsion of Boleslav, whose place was taken by his brother, Vladislav-German.

The expulsion of the Bold was the most favorable circumstance for strengthening the power of the nobles, because Vladislav-German was an incapable sovereign; after his death, there are strife between his sons: the legitimate, Boleslav III Krivousty, and the illegal, Zbigniew; finally, Zbigniew was killed, but Bolesław Wrymouth divided Poland between his four sons in 1139, as a result of which the same tribal relations and strife begin between the princes in Poland, which were in Russia since the death of Yaroslav I (1054). But the difference is that in Russia these relations and strife began very early, when the nobles had not yet had time to strengthen themselves as regional chiefs, and the princes, having greatly multiplied, occupied all significant cities and volosts and thereby put an obstacle to the strengthening of the nobles, his independence; while in Poland, since the time of Bolesław the Brave, we see favorable circumstances for the strengthening of the importance of the nobles, and autocracy continues, and the nobles govern the regions. And now, already in 1139, when the power of the nobles has increased tremendously, autocracy ceases, strife between princes begins, and strong nobles use these strife to further strengthen their power.

The importance of the nobles was revealed immediately. The eldest son of Crooked Mouth, Vladislav II, under the influence of his German wife Agnes, wants to restore autocracy, drive out the brothers, and strengthen his power; but the nobles and prelates do not want this strengthening, they take the side of the younger brothers and expel Vladislav II himself; then they expel the energetic and therefore dangerous for them Mieczysław III. Thus, after Bolesław the Brave, we see the expulsion of four sovereigns in Poland. The Senate completely limits the power of the sovereign, who can neither issue a new law, nor start wars, nor give a charter for anything, nor finally decide a court case. Meanwhile, external enemies take advantage of the sad situation of Poland, the strife of its princes, their disputes with nobles and prelates, Poland had dangerous neighbors in the Prussians, a wild Lithuanian tribe; driven to despair by the devastating raids of the Prussians, the Polish princes of Mazovia call for the help of the Germans, namely the knights of the German, or Teutonic, order, giving them a place to settle. The German knights really stop the Prussian raids, moreover, they conquer Prussia, they exterminate some of the inhabitants, some are forced to flee to the forests inhabited by the same tribe of Lithuania, the rest are forcibly baptized and unmarked. But, having established itself in Prussia, the German order, in turn, becomes a dangerous enemy of Poland.

The danger from the Germans for Poland was not limited to one German order. The Polish princes in their strife and disputes with nobles and prelates, having a need for money, borrow it from the Germans, give them lands as a mortgage, which then remain with the lenders, because the debtors are not able to redeem them; thus, many Polish lands passed to the Margraves of Brandenburg. The abbots of the Polish monasteries, born Germans, populate the monastic lands with their Germans; with the underdevelopment of industry and trade between the Poles, German industrialists and merchants fill the Polish cities and introduce their German administration there (Magdeburg Law); the Polish princes surround themselves with Germans, they speak nothing but German, the nobles imitate them in order to distinguish themselves from the crowd; the use of the German language throughout Silesia and in large cities: Krakow, Poznań.

After long internal unrest and struggle with external enemies, one of the Polish princes, Vladislav Loketok (Korotky), managed to unite most of the Polish regions into one kingdom. In order to balance the power of the senate, in 1331 Loketek convened the first Sejm in Chentsiny, but he could oppose the nobility only to the mass of the armed class, the gentry, which gave the Sejm the character of a veche, a Cossack circle, began to strive for military Cossack democracy, did not give the king any support. The urban estate, which absorbed many foreign elements, turned out to be weak, incapable of balancing the power of the nobility and the gentry and giving support to the royal power; the settlers were slaves to their landowners, and thus the further fate of Poland was in the hands of the gentry.

Vladislav Loketek left the throne to his son Casimir, nicknamed the Great; but the publication of a code or statute (Wislicki) and the founding of the University of Cracow cannot justify this name. Casimir tried to alleviate the plight of the rural population, for which he earned the nickname from the gentry male king, but he could not do anything important in this respect, and in general one cannot find so many bright sides in Casimir's activity that they could outweigh the unfavorable impression that he makes with his immorality and promiscuity in satisfying his passions. Under Casimir, Poland yields to its neighbors in the north and west, renounces Danzig Pomerania in favor of the Germans, Silesia in favor of the Czechs; but on the other hand, Casimir takes advantage of the turmoil in the Galician kingdom and takes possession of this Russian land (1340). Childless Casimir passes the throne to his nephew from his sister, Louis, King of Hungary; the powerful nobility agrees to this transfer, because Louis promised not to impose taxes without the consent of the people.

Since Louis throughout his reign paid little attention to Poland, this, of course, led to an even greater strengthening of the gentry. The latter did what she wanted, and after the death of Louis, who gave the Polish throne to one of his daughters, Jadwiga; Jadwiga did not come to her kingdom for a long time, and without her there was unrest, a strong struggle between the powerful families of Nalencha and Grzhimala. Finally the young queen arrived; it was necessary to marry her, and the Poles wanted to arrange this marriage as profitable as possible for themselves. Their attention had long been turned to the East, to a strong country, an alliance with which alone could give them the means to successfully fight the Germans. They offered the hand of their queen and their kingdom to the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jagail, not in order to give Poland as a dowry for Jadwiga, but to take Lithuania as a dowry for Jagail. Seduced by the honor of being a Polish king, a semi-barbarian and a very narrow-minded man, Jagiello agreed to all the demands of the Polish nobles and clergy, he himself converted to Catholicism, promised to convert pagan Lithuania to Christianity according to the Roman rite, promised to spread Catholicism among his Christian subjects of the Eastern confession, Russians and Lithuanians , promised to annex all his possessions to Poland.

The fatal marriage was concluded, but immediately there were phenomena that usually occur when two different nationalities are forcibly united, or when one nationality is given as a dowry. Willy-nilly, the pagan part of Lithuania was baptized and joined to the Western Church; but Christians of the Eastern confession, Russians and Lithuanians, did not want to accept Latinism, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania did not want to submit to the Polish crown. As a result, a strong struggle was going on with a visible connection. The details of this struggle do not belong here, regarding the actual Polish history in the reign of Jogaila, the war with the German order is remarkable.